By Ashley Perham, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Seven witnesses, including two coal miners and four current and former National Institute for Occupational Safety Health employees, spoke Wednesday in federal court about the effects of recent job cuts to the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program in Morgantown.
Attorneys on behalf of Harry Wiley — a Kanawha County man who works at a Raleigh County coal mine — led a federal class-action lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to resume the CWHSP at the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division in Morgantown.
On Wednesday, Judge Irene Berger, in the Southern District of West Virginia, heard evidence relating to a request from Wiley’s attorneys that she order the program to continue while the case is litigated.
Coal miner testimony
Wiley, who has worked in coal fields for 38 years, was diagnosed with black lung disease in November. A West Virginia panel that makes workers’ compensation decisions concurred a few months later.
