Echoes of Appalachia

Donald Trump has long praised coal as the backbone of American energy. At campaign rallies, he often promised to bring back “beautiful clean coal,” painting a picture of revived small towns, strong working-class families, and jobs that would no longer be shipped overseas or lost to regulation. But beneath the surface of these political soundbites, the lived reality for coal miners and their families tells a different story—one that involves disappearing health protections, slashed budgets for safety enforcement, and a steady erosion of programs meant to protect the very people Trump claims to stand for.

From Appalachia to the Powder River Basin, miners still go underground, risking their health and safety to dig out a fuel source whose demand continues to decline. While Trump’s administration rolled back environmental rules to benefit the coal industry’s bottom line, it quietly dismantled programs that directly supported miners’ health and workplace protections. Now, in tandem with Speaker Mike Johnson and others in the GOP pushing for broader budget cuts, the fallout is landing hardest on poor and working-class families.

A Legacy Carved in Coal—and Cost

Coal mining has always been dangerous. Black lung disease, roof collapses, and explosions are not relics of the past; they still happen. And the costs—physical, emotional, and financial—are carried not by the CEOs of coal companies, but by miners and their families.

During the Trump administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the federal agency tasked with ensuring miner safety, faced staffing shortages and reduced enforcement efforts. Inspections dropped. Fines for safety violations were reduced or went unpaid. Programs that once educated miners on how to avoid deadly accidents were either underfunded or halted entirely.

The result? More preventable deaths, more injuries, and more long-term health conditions among coal miners. And while the rhetoric from Washington focused on saving jobs, little was done to support the men and women already doing them.

One of the most striking examples came in 2018 when the administration proposed significant cuts to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. This fund helps support miners suffering from black lung disease—a condition caused by years of inhaling coal dust. The number of cases has actually increased in recent years, especially in Central Appalachia, yet the trust fund has teetered toward insolvency due to a reduction in coal companies’ contributions, a change made under Trump’s tax policy.

Empty Promises in Coal Country

When Trump visited Charleston, West Virginia in 2018, he told a cheering crowd, “We are putting our great coal miners back to work.” But many local miners weren’t celebrating. That same year, Murray Energy Corporation—the largest privately owned coal company in the U.S.—laid off workers, even as its CEO Robert Murray, a vocal Trump supporter, received regulatory favors from the administration.

Nationwide, coal jobs didn’t bounce back. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 50,000 coal mining jobs when Trump took office in 2017. By the time he left in 2021, the number had barely moved, hovering just above 43,000 after a steady decline.

Instead of a coal renaissance, miners faced a new kind of hardship: watching programs designed to support their work and well-being wither away. The Labor Department’s budget for miner training and retraining programs was repeatedly on the chopping block. Grants that helped miners transition into new careers—especially vital in regions where the coal economy has all but collapsed—were either slashed or eliminated.

Budget Cuts That Dig Deeper Wounds

Now, with House Republicans including Speaker Johnson and his allies pushing for sweeping federal budget cuts, the trend continues. Programs that support low-income rural communities, many of which include retired or injured miners, are facing the knife.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), which funds infrastructure projects, job training, and health services in distressed coal towns, is once again at risk. The proposed cuts from Republican leadership echo a familiar pattern: stripping away lifelines under the banner of fiscal responsibility, while the wealthiest Americans and corporations enjoy massive tax breaks.

In the end, the real cost is borne by the folks living in hollers and former boomtowns. Places like Harlan County, Kentucky, or Welch, West Virginia, where miners once lined up for work and now line up at food pantries.

Health Care for Miners Under Threat

In many mining communities, access to health care is already limited. Rural hospitals have been closing at an alarming rate. For miners battling black lung or recovering from injuries, losing nearby care isn’t an inconvenience—it’s a matter of life or death.

Under Trump, and continuing with current GOP efforts, Medicaid funding has faced constant threats. Many miners and their families rely on Medicaid, especially in states that expanded it under the Affordable Care Act. Any cuts or restrictions on eligibility hit these families especially hard.

The irony is thick. The same politicians who wear hard hats for campaign photo ops, who talk about the “dignity of work,” are also the ones gutting the services that help miners stay alive after the cameras are gone.

Political Theater vs. Practical Support

There’s a long history of politicians using coal country as a backdrop. Trump wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last. But few have so openly praised the industry while doing so little for its workers.

Support for coal miners shouldn’t end at photo ops and platitudes. It should mean full funding for black lung benefits. It should mean strengthening MSHA and enforcing workplace safety rules. It should mean real investment in retraining programs and infrastructure for coal towns that need new paths forward.

It should mean treating miners like the backbone of this country, not just a talking point.

What the Future Could Look Like

Coal is not coming back—not the way it once was. Markets are shifting. Renewable energy is growing. Automation continues to reduce the number of jobs in the industry. These are realities, not political positions.

But the people who gave their bodies to the mines shouldn’t be discarded just because their industry is in decline. They deserve respect, support, and a safety net that acknowledges their sacrifice. And they deserve elected officials who tell them the truth, even when it’s hard, instead of feeding them half-truths about “beautiful coal” while quietly dismantling their futures.

If politicians really care about coal country, they should prove it not with slogans, but with budgets that reflect the value of the people who built this nation with their bare hands.

-Tim Carmichael