Amid concerns that coal operators could begin shedding black lung liabilities onto the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, new Department of Labor guidelines could increase the risks for self-insured disability benefits
For Immediate Release
September 29, 2026
Contact: Brendan Muckian-Bates, brendan@aclc.org | 412-952-1341
Coal Country — Yesterday, Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center (ACLC) and Appalachian Voices submitted comments opposing the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of critical safeguards that require self-insuring coal companies to secure their black lung benefit obligations. The groups urged the Department of Labor (DOL) to retain the 2024 rule’s protections, warning that the proposal would leave significantly more liabilities unsecured while making the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund more dependent on collecting additional collateral when companies may be least able to provide it.
“This proposed rule is another taxpayer funded bailout of the coal industry. This administration has failed to protect working miners from black lung but they will protect coal operators from being financially accountable for the resurgence of this epidemic. You cannot secure resources from failing coal companies on their way to bankruptcy. By reducing how much coal operators put down to cover liabilities, this proposed rule will jeopardize the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.” said Brendan Muckian-Bates, Policy & Advocacy Associate of Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center
Coal companies are legally responsible for black lung benefits owed to eligible miners and their families. Self-insurance allows approved operators to meet those obligations without purchasing commercial insurance while posting security through instruments such as surety bonds or collateral that can cover benefits if the operators cannot pay. A combination of insufficient security and inadequate oversight allowed companies to put down only a fraction of what they owed prior to the 2024 rule. That rule required security equal to 100 percent of estimated present and future black lung liabilities to be in place. However, congressional oversight leaders reported in November 2025 that the DOL had privately informed self-insured operators that the Administration would not enforce the existing regulations at the time. The new, 2026 proposed rule would replace this previous standard with a system tied to a calculation of a company’s so-called financial score – an estimation that assesses company financial strength and default risk. The new rule would allow the highest-scoring operators to secure as little as ten percent of their estimated black lung obligations, creating a significant risk in the case of bankruptcy.
The consequences of inadequate security are already well documented. Between 2014 and 2016, three self-insured coal operators that filed for bankruptcy shifted an estimated $865 million in black lung liabilities onto the Trust Fund. The Fund provides a backstop for eligible beneficiaries when responsible operators cannot pay, but additional, unsecured liabilities can increase the need to borrow from the U.S. Treasury and burden taxpayers with more costs.
A company’s financial strength today does not eliminate their future obligations to miners, as the comments from ACLC and Appalachian Voices point out. Under the DOL’s new proposed rule, the agency would need to demand more security as a company’s finances deteriorate, precisely when cash, credit, and access to other assets may be harder to obtain.
Additionally, the new proposed rule would allow operators more time to post their initial required security. In the 2024 rule, operators had just one year to submit their required security, but in the proposed rule, operators would have up to three years to post this – often reduced – amount. This can place the Trust Fund at greater risk during this three-year phase-in period.
Another concern in the proposed rule is to allow newly-established coal operators to self-insure before completing three years of mining operators. The DOL proposes $400,000 as minimum security requirements and requires first-time self-insurers to post their full required security before authorization. Early bankruptcies of certain coal operators, including Blackjewel and FM Coal, illustrate why future installments may never be collected.
Read the full comments here.
