PHOTO ESSAY: Coal miners with black lung fight Trump administration rollback of safety protections

OAK HILL, W.Va. (AP) — Deep in the hills of West Virginia, coal mining and the dangers that come with it have been a part of families’ lives for generations. Death and tragedy are woven into history, but there’s also a fierce legacy of miners fighting for — and winning — protections that have benefitted workers nationwide.

As black lung rates rise among workers — including those in their 30s and 40s — forced to dig through more rock filled with deadly silica to reach the remaining thin coal seams, some sick retired coal miners from central Appalachia are fighting back. They are demanding the Trump administration enforce a rule approved last year by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration that would cut the federal limit for allowable respirable crystalline silica dust exposure by half to help protect all types of miners nationwide from the current driving force of black lung and other illnesses.

The silica rule was put on hold before it took effect in April after industry groups suing the government filed a request in court to block it, citing costs and difficulties implementing it. The administration did not push back against the lawsuit, and was granted another extension in October due to the government shutdown.

Dozens of former miners from the hard-hit region traveled to Washington last month to protest the silica rule’s delay along with cuts and proposed rollbacks to health and safety protections. Their opposition comes months after President Donald Trump signed executive orders to allow coal-fired plants to pollute more and to streamline the permitting process and open up new areas for mineral production, including oil and natural gas drilling and mining of “beautiful, clean coal.” At the time, he was celebrated at the White House by smiling miners in hard hats, including some with West Virginia stickers, as he promised to put more people to work underground.

The White House and the Labor Department insisted the administration can maintain miners’ health and safety while rolling back regulations.

“President Trump cares about our miners more than any other president in modern history – which is why he has implemented his energy dominance agenda to protect their jobs and revive the mining industry,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.

But some former coal miners who voted for Trump have lost faith in him.

“They’re doing everything they can to hurt the working man,” said Randy Lawrence, president of the Kanawha County Black Lung Association, who lugged his oxygen tank to the protest. “They ain’t worried about the miners or people in West Virginia or coal miners anywhere. All they’re worried about is the almighty dollar in D.C. They don’t care about the little people that put them there.”

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Roger James, a former coal miner and black lung patient, uses supplemental oxygen to breathe during a visit to the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, Sept. 24, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A train car carrying coal moves through Oak Hill, W.Va, at sunset on Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Mark F. Powell, a fourth-generation coal miner in southern West Virginia, is seen at his attorney's office, Sept. 18, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Lisa Emery, director of the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, left, hugs Delisa Legg, a black Lung benefits counselor at Rainelle Medical Center, during a Fayette County Black Lung Association meeting, Sept. 16, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Roger James, a former coal miner and black lung patient, left, looks at Lisa Emery, director of the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, at the clinic on Sept. 24, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Lisa Emery, director of the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, right, works with a patient with black lung disease, Sept. 23, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Former coal miner and black lung disease patient Roger James pauses to catch his breath after walking across the parking lot at the Maynor Freewill Baptist Church, Sept. 24, 2025, in Beckley, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Lisa Emery, director of the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, examines a chest X-ray showing progressive massive fibrosis, the most complicated form of black lung, at the center on Sept. 23, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Coal miner Ethan Carper sits in his truck outside a convenience store after work, Sept. 17, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Roosevelt Neal, with the Fayette County Black Lung Association in W.Va., rolls up a banner of a coal miner who died of black lung disease, during a protest outside the U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Gary Hairston, president of the Fayette County Black Lung Association and the National Black Lung Association, wipes tears from his eyes during a protest outside the U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A man holds an image of Michael Steve Day Sr., a West Virginia coal miner who died of black lung disease in 2014, during a protest outside the U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Arvin Hanshaw, of Summersville, W.Va., left, and Randy Lawrence, president of the Kanawha County Black Lung Association, right, put their hats back on after praying during a rally protesting the government's failure to limit exposure to deadly silica in mines, outside the U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A banner with an image of President Donald Trump hangs outside the U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A truck drives over the New River Gorge Bridge at sunset, Sept. 16, 2025, in Victor, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Judy Riffe, president of the Wyoming County Black Lung Association, left, and Gary Hairston, president of the Fayette County Black Lung Association and the National Black Lung Association, second from right, load into a van departing for Washington, D.C., to protest the government's delay of the silica rule passed last year to limit exposure to deadly silica in coal mines, on Oct. 13, 2025, in Mount Hope, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Gary Hairston, president of the Fayette County Black Lung Association and the National Black Lung Association, talks in his home, Sept. 24, 2025, in Beckley, W.Va. Hairston is a former coal miner and has black lung disease. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Arvin Hanshaw, of Summersville, W.Va., wears a hat with a miner silhouetted by the state of West Virginia, as he joins a group going to Washington, D.C., to protest the government's delay of the silica rule passed last year to limit exposure to deadly silica in coal mines, on Oct. 13, 2025, in Mount Hope, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Crosses and grave markers are seen at the Hawks Nest Workers Memorial and Grave Site, Sept. 24, 2025, in Mount Lookout, W.Va. Silica created one of the worst occupational disasters in U.S. history when more than 750 miners — most of them Black — died from breathing the toxic dust while drilling the Hawks Nest tunnel in the early 1930s to divert water to power a metal plant. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Randy Lawrence, president of the Kanawha County Black Lung Association, stands outside his home wearing supplemental oxygen for black lung disease near Cabin Creek, W.Va., Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Mammoth Coal Processing Plant sits along the Kanawha River, Sept. 17, 2025, in London, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Roger James, a former coal miner and black lung patient, uses supplemental oxygen to breathe during a visit to the New River Health Association Black Lung Clinic, Sept. 24, 2025, in Oak Hill, W.Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Donald Trump said the military could end its Iran offensive in two to three weeks and will shift responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz to countries that rely on it for oil and shipping as the White House announced a prime-time presidential address Wednesday evening on the war.

Trump expressed frustration Tuesday with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the U.S. war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil.” Trump recently has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war.

He said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” what happens next in the vital waterway that has been closed by the Islamic Republic. Instead, he told reporters, the responsibility for keeping the strait open will rest with countries that rely on it. Gulf states rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world's oil supply flows through it.

U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.

Here is the latest:

Iran’s foreign minister has acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

The comments by Abbas Araghchi came in an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera aired late Tuesday. He insisted that the messages didn’t constitute negotiations.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Iran and America has having talks over the war, while Pakistan has been a key intermediary along with Egypt and Turkey during the conflict.

“I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he said.

He added: “We do not have any faith that negotiations with the U.S. will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”

Asked about a possible ground offensive by the U.S., Araghchi said “we are waiting for them.”

“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” Araghchi reportedly told the Qatar-based broadcaster. “In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake.”

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a preliminary count early Wednesday 21 people were also wounded in the strike in Jnah.

The strike came without warning, and Israel did not declare the target. When it does, it often says it is targeting operatives from the Hezbollah militant group.

Emergency workers rushed to the scene to search for victims.

Israel’s military warned the public Wednesday a missile was incoming from Yemen, yet another attack from the country’s Houthi rebels who have just entered the war on Iran’s side.

Air raid sirens went off in southern Israel, from Beersheba to the Mediterranean coast.

The warning, just around dawn, broke a long lull, more than 19 hours since the last time Israel’s military warned of an incoming missile launch from Iran, and more than six hours from the last alarms in the northern part of Israel, which in past days received near-constant fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A drone attack by Iran and its allies hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, authorities said.

The state-run KUNA news agency said the attack early Wednesday sparked a “large fire” at the airport.

It said there were no immediate injuries from the attack and firefighters were working to control the blaze.

Kuwait International Airport has been attacked before by Iran during the war. The KUNA report suggested the attack may have been launched by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq with Tehran’s support.

In another strike, Bahrain said early on Wednesday morning that it was working to extinguish a fire at a business facility that resulted from an Iranian attack.

Israel said early Wednesday it struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.

The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a picture of the factory in Tehran, writing on X: “The war criminals in Israel are now openly and unashamedly bombing pharmaceutical companies.”

Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.

Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions. The U.S. previously pointed to Iranian academic research studying how Russia likely used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage seizure by Chechen militants.

Israel alleged Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The U.S alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.

The United Arab Emirates has barred Iranians from entering or transiting the country as the war rages, three major airlines said Wednesday.

Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, as well as the lower-cost airline FlyDubai, made the announcements on their websites.

Entry rules can sometimes be opaque in the autocratic United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, the three airlines agreed on the order. It said holders of 10-year Golden Visa residency permits could still enter the country.

Authorities have offered no official comment. But Dubai has already shut down the city-state’s Iranian Hospital and Iranian Club, institutions that date back to the time of the shah.

Residents and Israeli security forces inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A man inspect the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank village of Marda, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hits a building near the airport road in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A family who fled Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon warm themselves by a bonfire next to tents used as shelters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)