Chapman reports that by April 8 the two will be crossing into Virginia and that by the time they reach the nation's capital on April 15 they will have walked 525 miles, 125 miles more than originally estimated.

Chapman's husband Carson died from black lung in January 2001. The Chapmans fought for eight years to be qualified to receive benefits, an ordeal that included the denial of compensation at both the state and federal level. Tipton, who has been active in the National Black Lung Association (NBLA), joined Chapman in her walk. Her husband Dick has black lung. A disabled member of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), he has been providing support for the walkers.

In Washington Chapman and Tipton will meet first with leaders of the UMWA and NBLA, the two organizations that have backed their walk. A rally is planned on April 16.

Black lung is a preventable disease caused by the inhalation of coal dust. A vigorous fight by coal miners led the federal government to implement regulations that, if followed, would mean the coal bosses carrying out measures to cut down on dust levels in mines. The struggle also won benefits for miners who contracted black lung. But changes to the black lung law in 1981 made it much harder for miners and their dependents to win benefits, and the employers are widely known to be flouting coal dust standards.

The walk, which started out from UMWA District 17 offices in Charleston on March 15, has wound its way north through rural West Virginia and the coal towns of Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Morgantown, and then on to Uniontown, one of the main towns in the southwestern Pennsylvania coalfield. UMWA rallies and press conferences to greet and support the walkers were held in Fairmont and Uniontown. The walkers received considerable news coverage in local newspapers and on television and radio stations, particularly in northern West Virginia.

Financial support for the walk has been coming in from locals of the UMWA. Local 1248 at the Maple Creek mine based in Bentleville, Pennsylvania, sent $200, and a similar amount was contributed by Local 1948 members in Rangely, Colorado. The president of the Colorado union, Vincent Conkle, sent a letter of solidarity to Chapman and Tipton. Several UMWA locals from southern West Virginia have sent checks to the NBLA in support of the walk. Individual contributions have come from working people across the coal fields, including several in Alabama.

Days before the walk started, Chapman joined another black lung widow, Kathryn South, whose husband Mike was a former president of the NBLA, in presenting testimony before a Senate committee in Kentucky that reviewed a bill to reform state black lung laws. A final version of the reform package was approved by the Kentucky House April 1 by a vote of 96 to 0.

The efforts to reform the state law had been promoted by Democratic governor Paul Patton, the architect in 1996 of drastic cuts in the state's black lung benefits. Under the 1996 bill, payouts to coal miners plunged from $100 million to less than $100,000. Fewer than 2 percent of miners who filed claims received any benefits.

Under the new law more miners will qualify for retraining benefits and cash benefits, and payment levels will increase. Those whose claims were rejected under the old law can now reapply for coverage.

A focus of the law is job retraining for miners. Miners with initial evidence of black lung but no breathing impairment, for example, can qualify for retraining benefits. The push toward retraining covers up the fact that the coal bosses have no intention of cutting down on dust levels in the mines. With safety precautions, including proper air ventilation, curtains, and water sprays, miners should be able to work a lifetime without getting the disease.

A Louisville Courier-Journal series in 1998 pointed to the real culprit: cheating by mine operators on federal coal dust sampling, with the result that miners work in dust at many times the acceptable federal level.

Previous efforts to reform the Kentucky law stalled before the Senate. This year, after a reform law passed the House without opposition, a revised version also unanimously passed the Senate. The Senate version sailed through after the coal operators were able to gain the removal of the measure's presumption that if a miner has 15 years of experience in the mine and has evidence of either black lung or impaired breathing, the problem is caused by coal dust and benefits should be awarded.

The coal bosses use the claim that smoking could be the cause of the miner's breathing problems to drag out and deny benefits, and cover up their own culpability for the disease. State Sen. Katie Stine chimed in on the side of the coal companies, stating that the presumption clause would make the law "come awful close to an entitlement program."

At rallying points along the 525-mile walk to Washington, Chapman has emphasized the need to put the "presumptive clause" back into the law. The restoration of a similar provision in the federal law, axed as part of the 1981 changes, is one of the aims of the widows' walk.

Lobbyists for the coal bosses and the insurance industry estimate the cost of the Kentucky bill to be between $18 to $30 million, most of which would be for retroactive benefits for those whose claims were denied over the past six years. It is also reported that $13 million is already available from taxes and fees paid by coal operators. This fund was slashed because so few claims were awarded and so little paid out under the 1996 law.

Tony Lane is a member of UMWA Local 1248 in southwestern Pennsylvania.
 
 
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