In the heart of West Virginia’s coal country, Marion Tennant knew from a young age what his future held: the mines.
“That was the only thing in this area when I graduated high school,” Tennant recalled, speaking about his entry into coal mining in 1974. Back then, miners like him were at least afforded a basic protection — regular, free black lung screenings provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
But now, thanks to convicted felon Donald Trump’s slash-and-burn budget policies, that vital lifeline has been cut.
The Trump administration’s draconian budget cuts forced the shutdown of NIOSH’s screenings — a devastating blow in a region where black lung disease remains a deadly threat. Tennant, now retired, worries deeply about the next generation of miners who will be left vulnerable.
“What’s going to happen, I’m afraid, is your young ones, before they realize what they’ve done to their body, they’re gonna have black lung, and the numbers is going to rise,” he said.
Tennant isn’t the only one raising the alarm. Catherine Blackwood, a former PhD scientist at the now-gutted NIOSH facility in Morgantown, WV, is furious — and with good reason. She lost her job on April 1, along with over 200 other experts — scientists, safety regulators, and public health professionals — who were all working to protect workers from deadly occupational hazards.
“I’m angry that we are just being cast aside,” Blackwood said. “The work being done at NIOSH was not wasteful. It was not duplicative. It was not redundant. The research… was being done nowhere else in the world.”
Yet the illegal Trump Regime seem determined to destroy it anyway.
Despite token reinstatements of a few positions after public outcry, the Regime still plans to eliminate all NIOSH staff in the coming months. It’s a move that puts miners, firefighters, and everyday workers across America in greater danger — all for the sake of “cutting bureaucracy.”
Let’s be clear: this isn’t bureaucracy. This is science. This is safety. This is life or death.
When confronted with the consequences of defunding a program that costs $363 million annually — pennies compared to the $176 billion in job-related injuries and illnesses — the Department of Health and Human Services shrugged, insisting it was all part of an effort to eliminate “waste.”
Tell that to the workers now left to breathe in toxic dust, walk into burning buildings, and handle cancer-causing chemicals without proper oversight or protection.
Trump may claim to champion coal miners, but actions speak louder than campaign rhetoric. His choice to gut NIOSH proves where his real priorities lie — and it’s not with the people of West Virginia. The sad irony is that the overwhelming majority of the people being hurt by the Orange Felon’s cuts actually voted for the criminal! Well, you get what you voted for, morons. (Trump won West Virginia with 70% of the vote. Among coal miners, I bet it was well over 90%)
Even Tennant, a coal country native who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris *or* Donald Trump, sees through the hypocrisy.
“He’s looking at the coal-fired power plants,” Tennant said, “but he’s also doing away with NIOSH that helps the safety of the coal miners.”
In a nation where worker safety is already under constant threat, Trump’s war on science and public health is more than negligent — it’s deadly.
As Blackwood warned: “I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that eviscerating NIOSH, as they have, will cause people to die.”