Jenkins champions plight of West Virginia coal miners in seeking long-term fix to benefits crisis

Evan Jenkins

A top priority for U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-WV) at the start of the new year will be to secure a commitment in Congress for a long-term solution to the health care and pension crisis facing thousands of retired coal miners in West Virginia.

The years-long downturn in the coal industry, exacerbated by competition from cheap natural gas and stricter pollution regulations, has forced major coal producers into bankruptcy.

A casualty of the coal decline has been the benefits of retired mine workers and their widows. The bankruptcies have led to a lack of security in health benefits and a sharp reduction in employee contributions to the pension plans of retirees.

“The bottom line is for a number of years, policy makers, pension program administrators and the retirees have known that this was a looming problem. Well, this problem is now a crisis,” Jenkins said in a recent interview with The Ripon Advance.

More than 16,000 coal miners in October and November had received notice that they would lose their health insurance benefits on Jan. 1, 2017. However, Congress passed a continuing resolution on Dec. 9 to fund the federal government through April 2017, which included money to secure the health benefits that were at risk of being terminated an additional four months.

“We provided a small amount of time, at least peace of mind that they aren’t losing their benefits on the first of the year, but we absolutely have to come back,” Jenkins said. “Just as we have to continue funding the federal government at the end of April, we must also address this issue.”

Jenkins is a co-sponsor of the Coal Healthcare and Pensions Protection Act, H.R. 2403, legislation that would shore up the health benefit and pension programs by taking interest from the Abandoned Mine Land trust fund. That fund is paid for by coal production fees.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) helped introduce a companion bill in the Senate: the Miners Protection Act, S. 1714.

The bill has garnered bipartisan support. “Those of us from coal country are married to the plight of our retirees and are fighting for them,” Jenkins said. “Part of our challenge is trying to bring a level of awareness up to speed with our other congressional colleagues.”

Debate continues in part over whether the permanent source of funding for miner pension and health benefits should come from a different source than the Abandoned Mine Land fund, he said.

Jenkins also teamed up with Capito to introduce a measure in the House and Senate that would bring millions of dollars of investment to struggling coal communities.

The Creating Opportunities for Rural Economies (CORE) Act would allocate a portion of available New Markets Tax Credits to be used for development in communities hurt by the downturn in the coal industry. The CORE Act would set aside $525 million in credits over three years to invest in states with major coal job losses.

“This legislation creates a financial incentive to come into this part of the country to provide much needed economic development help,” he said.

Jenkins, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, recently spoke with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and also Vice President-elect Mike Pence about the importance of the administration’s support of legislation to protect mine workers.

“Trump specifically talked about offering hope and opportunity and help to distressed coal communities and our coal miners,” Jenkins said. “A very powerful message from President-elect Trump could be not only are we going to get the policies right to get our coal miners working again, we are also going to put the weight of the presidency behind things like the coal miners protection act to make sure our retirees and widows are protected.”

The agreement that miners would be guaranteed pension and health care in retirement dates back to 1946 under the Truman administration.

“Coal miners have put their lives on the line mining the coal that has generated the energy that fueled our country and it is time that policy makers find a permanent solution,” Jenkins said.