A federal judge has intervened to stop the planned job cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, West Virginia, in a major win for coal miners and worker health advocates across the state. The decision comes as thousands of miners and residents raised concerns about losing access to life-saving health protections.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger issued an injunction to block the reduction-in-force (RIF) notices that had been sent to NIOSH employees. This ruling followed a lawsuit filed by Mountain State Justice on behalf of Harry Wiley, a coal miner from Kanawha County, who argued that the closure of NIOSH’s occupational health programs violated miners’ legal rights.
In her order, Judge Berger made it clear that Wiley and other miners have a legal right to the health protections mandated by Congress. She instructed that the RIF notices be rescinded immediately and gave U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 20 days to demonstrate compliance with her ruling.
“This opinion gives life to America’s foundational principles of judicial review,” said labor attorney Sam Petsonk, who led the lawsuit. “It empowers ordinary citizens like these coal miners to defend their rights against illegal actions by our government.”
Petsonk highlighted the urgency of these programs, especially now that Appalachian miners are encountering more toxic sandstone as they dig deeper into depleted coal seams.
Programs such as the Part 90 low-dust job transfer initiative and the black lung health screening program are crucial for preventing and detecting respiratory diseases in coal workers. Without them, miners are left vulnerable to life-threatening conditions like black lung disease, which has been on the rise in recent years.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Secretary Kennedy testified before Congress and confirmed that the coal workers’ health surveillance program and respirator testing efforts will continue without interruption.
“I reinstated 328 employees at NIOSH,” Kennedy told Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., during a House hearing on Wednesday. “About a little over a third of them were in Morgantown.”
Moore pressed Kennedy about coal-related health programs. “The black lung screening program and the coal workers’ health surveillance program are particularly important to West Virginia,” Moore said. “My understanding is that the program will be fully reinstated. Is that correct?”
“Yes, the program … will continue to function with continuity,” Kennedy replied, confirming that these critical services will remain operational.
Moore hailed the update as a major win for West Virginia miners. “This is a great win for West Virginia, and I can’t thank the secretary enough for working closely with my office to make this happen,” he said.
However, some state leaders say credit should go elsewhere. West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin pushed back on Republican efforts to claim credit for saving NIOSH jobs.
“This is not leadership by the Republican delegation or the Trump administration,” Pushkin said. “This is accountability, imposed by the courts. And it only happened because people like Sam Petsonk and brave coal miners stood up and fought back.”
In the end, the court’s decision secures not just jobs but vital health protections for thousands of West Virginia workers. The ruling reaffirms that no miner should be left behind — and that government accountability remains a powerful tool in protecting the rights and well-being of the people it serves.
