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States with low rates of participation included West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In each of those s
tates, fewer than a third of miners were opting to receive the health screenings provided by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health.
Black lung advocates said many miners simply don't want to know whether they have the disease.
"What's the need in doing it," asked Michael Cardwell, a Kentucky miner from Clay who has worked 30 years underground.
"If you've got it, they won't do nothing for you."
United Mine Workers of America representative Steve Earle said Workers' Compensation laws have become so restrictive
that most miners diagnosed with the debilitating disease don't qualify for benefits. So, he said, they forgo the health
screenings that could make them "damaged goods" in the eyes of employers.
"All the miners I know think it's an exercise in futility," Earle said. "They think it's just a hopeless cause."
The Kentucky Department for Public Health has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct a
study to determine the reasons why coal miners are skipping the screenings. CDC epidemiologist Margaret Riggs said
researchers will canvas underground coal operations.
"People can speculate as to why, but no one has conducted a study like this to ask them," Riggs said Friday.
Coalfield lawyer Thomas Moak of Prestonsburg said he believes the reason is because politicians have made it too
difficult for sick miners to qualify for black lung compensation.
"Right now, there are very few benefits miners can receive if they test positive," Moak said.
Moak said some miners also fear they might be forced to give up jobs that pay as much as $80,000 a year if they're
diagnosed with black lung, also known as coal workers' pneumoconiosis.
NIOSH found that the percentage of miners receiving free X-rays varied from state to state over the past 5 years, from a
low of 8 percent in West Virginia to a high of 100 percent in Illinois. In Kentucky, 22 percent of miners received the
X-rays over the period, as did 23 percent in Pennsylvania, 29 percent in Virginia, 37 percent in Alabama, 44 percent in
New Mexico, 66 percent in Utah, and 94 percent in Colorado.
"Some miners don't want to know if they have black lung," said Wes Addington, an attorney with Appalachian Citizens' Law
Center in Whitesburg. "They may be afraid to find out."
Earle said he expects miners to continue refusing the health screenings until federal and state black lung laws are
changed. Earle said the UMWA will lobby for changes in the Kentucky legislature when it convenes in January.
Kentucky's black lung law has been the subject of years of criticism and legal challenges, the latest of which made its
way to the state's Supreme Court on Thursday. Justices upheld the law, dismissing legal arguments that it violates the
equal protection clauses of both the state and U.S. constitutions.
The case questioned why coal miners with black lung are treated differently than people with other types of ailments
when applying for Workers' Compensation benefits.
Attorneys questioned why black lung sufferers have to be evaluated by a panel of five doctors before they can receive
benefits when those with traumatic injuries do not.
The Supreme Court held that differences in methods of detecting black lung disease require different approaches in
determining if Workers' Compensation benefits should be awarded.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. -- State and federal health officials said Friday they were going to conduct a study into why many
underground coal miners decline free X-rays to check for black lung disease.