美国有2.5万尘肺病人，他们可能失去政府的帮助

在美国，大约有2.5万名退休煤矿工人要靠联邦政府拨款治疗他们的尘肺病，这笔钱主要来自于一笔税收拨款，然而今后美国政府很可能将不再保留这一税种。据美联社报道，美国尘肺病致残信托基金成立于1978年，其拨款主要来自于煤矿企业按吨缴纳的煤炭销售税收，但这一基金很可能到2020年就将无以为继。

尘肺病，又称肺尘埃沉着病，是一种因为吸入煤尘而引起的疾病，症状为咳嗽、肺部炎症与纤维化，肺部组织增厚并产生瘢痕。美国疾病控制与预防中心2018年的一份报告指出，在煤矿工作过25年以上的矿工中，至少有十分之一患有尘肺病。而在美国的阿巴拉契亚地区，这一比例则上升至五分之一，达到有史以来的最高水平。其中很多病人都是年轻人，甚至远低于25岁的门槛。

该基金可能在2020年前耗尽的一个重要原因是，在2018年的政府停摆期间，这笔必要的煤炭消费税被砍掉了，至今仍未恢复征收。一些代表煤炭生产大州的参议员希望继续支持该基金运行10年。2019年的《美国矿工法案》也写入了关于保护尘肺病人的医疗和养老待遇的条款。

请关注：我将敦促参议院各位同仁支持我的提案——《美国矿工法案》，它将确保不会有任何一名矿工或他们的受益人失去医疗、养老或尘肺相关福利。现在是时候完成这项工作，信守我们对矿工的诺言了。pic.twitter.com/8eVZN4wmZL

——参议员乔·曼钦（@Sen_JoeManchin），2019年2月13日

除非这项法案获得通过，否则对煤炭工人的实际支持只会愈加不足。自从特朗普上台以来，美国煤炭行业和煤炭工人的日子实际上越来越难过了。今年1月，《财富》杂志还专门撰文研究了特朗普上台以来，美国关闭的火电厂数量激增的情况。而去年又是美国自从2015年以来关闭火电厂数量最多的一年。

火电厂被大量关闭的一个重要原因是它的毒性。调查发现，美国有超过90%的火电厂都对附近的水体包括地下水造成了污染，其排放的主要有毒物质为砷、铬、锂等。美国环保署曾经出台过关于削减二氧化碳排放的规定，但现在这些规定也被砍掉了。美国环保署的现任当家人安德鲁·惠勒之前也是煤炭行业的游说者。

既然连火电厂都能对环境造成这么大的破坏，长期吸入煤尘的煤矿工人患上这样严重的疾病，也就不足为奇了。如果尘肺病致残信托基金无法继续获得联邦拨款，那么这无论是对于尘肺病幸存者，还是对于我们普通人的福祉，只怕都不是一件好事。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

The roughly 25,000 retired coal miners that rely on federal support for their black lung treatments have enough to worry about without fretting that government leaders won’t maintain an excise tax that finances their treatment fund. And yet, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which was established in 1978 and finances workers’ black lung disease claims through a tax on per-ton sales by coal mine operators, is in danger of drying up by 2020, according to the Associated Press.

Black lung, another term for pneumoconiosis, is a condition caused by inhaling coal dust and presents in symptoms such as coughing, inflammation, and fibrosis, a thickening and scarring of tissue. A 2018 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that at least one in 10 coal miners who had worked in the mines for at least a quarter-century had black lung and in Appalachia, that rate skyrocketed to one in five. That’s the highest-ever recorded level of the condition, and many cases are being diagnosed in younger workers, well under that 25-year threshold.

One reason the Fund is in danger of being depleted by the middle of 2020 is due to the 2018 government shutdown, which cut the necessary tax as of Jan. 1, and it has yet to be restored. Several senators representing states with major coal production interests are trying to shore up the Fund for another 10 years. The American Miners Act of 2019 includes a provision that would protect healthcare and pensions of those with black lung.

WATCH: I’m urging my colleagues to support my bill, the American Miners Act, that will ensure that none of our coal miners or their beneficiaries would lose their healthcare, pension, or black lung benefits. It’s time to finish the job & keep the promise to our miners. pic.twitter.com/8eVZN4wmZL

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) February 13, 2019

But support for coal workers will fall short unless the act is passed, and this is part of a distressing pattern. Under President Trump, the coal industry has continued to suffer and so have workers. In January, Fortune looked at how coal-fired power plant closures have surged during the Trump administration. And 2018 saw the highest number of plant closures since 2015.

One reason has to do with toxicity. More than 90% of American coal plants were found to contaminate nearby water, including groundwater, with chemicals including arsenic, chromium, and lithium. And in 2017, Environmental Protection Agency regulations that cut carbon dioxide emissions were cut. The EPA is currently run by Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist.

And if coal plants are causing that much environmental damage, it makes sense that workers would suffer from extreme symptoms and illnesses after working in the mines. Not being able to rely on federal support from the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, whether for your own condition or the associated survivor benefits, seems like a particularly bleak prognosis.