" Younger miners are getting diagnosed with stage-three black lung, and they’re having to quit mining in their 30s or 40s," King observed. “They’re losing possibly 20 years, 30 years of work history, and they’re unable to draw down that retirement fund.”

Around 16% of the nation’s coal workers are living with black lung, and after decades of improvement, the number of cases is on the rise again, according to the American Lung Association.

One National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study found modern coal miners, particularly those in Central Appalachia, are more likely than their predecessors to die from coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.