"U.S. coal companies lobbied Congress to allow a drop in their payments to help miners with black lung disease by arguing the incurable ailment was in decline and a victims’ trust fund was financially healthy, assertions contradicted by government findings, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Coal companies are currently required to pay a tax of $1.10 per ton on underground production to finance the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which pays medical and living expenses for some 25,000 eligible miners and their families.
That excise tax is scheduled to revert to the 1977 level of 50 cents per ton at the start of 2019. A bipartisan effort earlier this year to extend the higher rate failed, though lawmakers may raise the issue again in the coming months."
Advertisement 
