Look For & Spread Word- "Coal's Deadly Dust" on PBS, Jan. 22, 2019 (Tuesday at 10 PM on "Frontline") on WVPT
JOHN REEVES
To: HBurg Eco-minds, CAAV, local Sierra Club and Clean Energy Supporters,
PBS will air a documentary called “Coal’s Deadly Dust” on Jan. 22, 2019 (Frontline is 10 PM on WVPT).
An epidemic that could have been stopped: Howard Berkes of NPR has steadfastly documented the epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners in Appalachia. Now, in an investigation by NPR and Frontline, he and a team of reporters find that, not only did the federal government fail to adequately track the illnesses, but regulators had evidence for years that the epidemic was coming and did nothing to stop it.
The reporters tell the stories of Greg Kelly and Danny Smith, suffering with a disease that more typically afflicts people with many more years in the mine than they had. “For decades, government regulators had evidence of excessive and toxic mine dust exposures, the kind that can cause [progressive massive fibrosis, an advanced stage of black lung disease], as they were happening,” the NPR-Frontline team writes. “They knew that miners like Kelly and Smith were likely to become sick and die. They were urged to take specific and direct action to stop it. But they didn’t.” The story includes this remarkable admission from a former mine safety regulator: “We failed.”
PBS will air a documentary called “Coal’s Deadly Dust” on Jan. 22, 2019 ("Frontline" is 10 PM in HBurg. area).
This evening, WMRA -NPR radio had a *strong report by Howard Berkes about this continuing Investigation. They had several Trump administration appointees and coal executives who still repeated the propaganda that the science was not proven about frequent mining exposures to coal dust and the many rock/silica dusts of Appalachia area causing the epidemic being seen/diagnosed. This report was focused on hardest hit groups in Va., WVa. and Kentucky. This reporting was moving and is recommended. Best regards, John Reeves Rockingham County