European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 7, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes daily Magazine 1085 logjam in the appeals process backlog for Black lung benefits Iff h f a photo Ray former Coal takes lung he is among Many who have filed by Paige John associated press he came Home each Day marked with the Fine Black Coal dust that meant he made a she soaked the Black out of his clothes until the was water was As dark As the phlegm he coughed from his in he applied for Black lung benefits and was he appealed eight years later under the Black lung Reform act of the Coal miners Appeal hearing with the department of labors office of administrative Law judges came up in he was unable to attend he died three years it not uncommon for them to die while there wait ing in the says attorney John who specializes in Black lung whats even More common is for them to cling desperately to life Long enough to get their they wait to die until the know their wives Are taken care if the miners wife is denied Black lung benefits by the ajl office and she decides to it probably will be at least three More years before a hearing is scheduled before the benefits review Federal officials United mine workers District 17 is pursuing the widows if Dies during the the ump will try to find heirs that could receive the benefits due the dead ump attorney Tom Zerbe says he handled five cases in less than two years in which the miners died before getting through the i represented one Case where the Miner died and then the widow Zerbe we won that Case for but the Guy died and theres no Way we can Send him the its a dark the from Taylors is a deliberate attempt to suffocate the Black lung from Here it looks like theres been an attack on the Black lung program by the Federal he to it looks like Congress has wrangled with the department of labor Over the growing number of Black lung appeals since the program was reformed in the num ber of cases waiting for Alj hearings Rose from 484 in 1979 to at the end of last the general accounting office Esti mated that at current staffing it will take administrative Law judges More than 35 years to Cut through the Back appellants will wait an average of years for a hearing at each step of the appeals several congressmen have complained loudly about the the Gao report was made at the request of Don who was frustrated after unsuccessfully trying to get action on the appeals of two Congress passed a Bill last year introduced by Alan increasing the size of the benefits review Board from three to nine members including five temporary but so the most direct hiring More administrative Law judges to hear More has been left on the in disappointed that the Dol department of labor Hast asked for More funding for Pease its not but in disappointed Pease said he thought even under pressure to Deal with the nations budget would approve additional funding for the labor department to Clear up the As it the expanded review Board will Cost another million on top of the offices 1984 budget of the Gao and the ajl office expect to decide an extra cases this at the Gao Esti mated Cost of million added to its current million those increases come with the program Al ready deeply in As of the Black lung program owed the Treasury More than Bil were very cognizant of Cost in this said a Dol administrative Law judge in who asked not to be were doing the Best under the if you could hire another 20 the Back log would but no ones saying heres x num ber of dollars to do that wont happen in the atmosphere Here in Washington right a former lawyer for the benefits review Board expressed similar pessimism that the labor department will allocate much additional its never going to happen under this adm Nistra said the who still works with the Black lung asked not to be the backlog is no ones it really the lawyer and it int a surprising this was an expected bump in the the Long waiting list of cases appeared when con Gress loosened eligibility requirements for the Black lung the Law allowed miners who had previously been denied benefits to Appeal under liberalized it was the lawyer Here we were with almost nothing to do and All of a sudden we  keep it just like the fable of an elephant swallowed by a the backlog in seven started to move slowly through the Black lung just this the Tail end has reached the first step of the program the claims examiners for the first were seeing said James head of the Black lung programs nine claims examiners we have backlogs left in Only two of the Demarce said a waiting list remains in the Charles ton area because of extensive staffing problems there last four of seven Charleston based examiners were charged with fraud in a remains in the Kentucky he simply because More appeals have been filed but faster work in the claims offices Only increases the logjam at the next the Alj the backlog there was continued to increase each despite a number of alternative All Short of hiring new the Washington judge said his since the Pease has relied heavily on contract judges hired on a temporary but the contract often retired can Only draft decisions that must be reviewed again by Perma nent Pease and Mollohan Are impatient with the labor Gerrill a spokesman for said the lawmaker considers the department to be under a congressional mandate to add More alas to the appeals Pease said he thinks action must be taken within the next two i think this is an emergency situation and the administration has a moral even a Legal to Clear this thing he people such As Pease and Mollohan have an unrealistic of the Black lung the former review Board lawyer they treat this thing like a pension not compensation for a the lawyer they think its Only a matter of filing for its not a matter of processing claims at its a matter of a real judicial the same As any court Griffith its difficult to explain the delays to miners asking Mollohan office for its frustrating for Griffith weve got people dying to have their cases