The bill is unclear in places, but it seems to shift responsibility for safety away from mining companies in two directions. First, individuals at mines would become the focus for penalties, rather than companies overall. Yet major disasters in West Virginia coal mines have often been ascribed to systemic mistakes made by corporations, and not to the actions of individuals. The Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 miners in 2010, occurred at a mine owned by Massey Energy. An independent commission convened by the governor noted that the company had a long record of violating safety laws. (Its CEO, Don Blankenship, was sentenced last year to a year in prison for his role in the safety issues.)

Secondly, the bill would defer safety-enforcement to the federal government, on the grounds that state rules are duplicative of federal safety regulations. Yet as Ward points out, the Upper Big Branch panel recommended tighter state standards. And moreover, President Trump has promised to roll back regulations on mining so as to jump-start the industry—meaning that the landscape could soon see not duplicative regulation but no meaningful oversight on either the state or federal level.

SB 582 is a dramatic illustration of changes in the coal industry, and they way are squeezing coal miners from both sides. Miners have long had to fight for safety and wages, a situation in which they waged war—mostly figurative, but sometimes literal—against coal companies, demanding better treatment. In 1974, Fred Harris wrote for The Atlantic that Duke Energy was “burning up people to make electricity” in Harlan County, Kentucky. Harris went to Harlan County report on a strike by workers there who were demanding better safety measures as well as improved benefits and pay. (The same strike was the subject of Harlan County, USA, an Oscar-winning 1976 documentary.) The union ultimately triumphed in that case, and in others, where miners were the frontline of demanding better safety measures.

But things have changed over the last 40 years. The coal industry is in deep trouble, with both prices and production in steep decline. Rising concern about climate change has led to somewhat stricter regulations governing the coal industry. Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, the clout of labor groups like the United Mine Workers of America has been diminished. Where workers were once concerned that mining companies were out to deprive them of their fair wages, their primary concern now is whether the industry will survive, or whether it will perish—taking their livelihood with it. That has pushed miners toward the companies. Groups like Friends of Coal, a multistate group that rallies for the industry, seeks to unite miners and companies around fighting against stricter regulation.

As a result, the political ground has shifted, too. Where politicians might have been forced in the past to choose between standing with coal companies or standing with miners, now they can push for rolling back regulations on the coal industry, which pleases coal companies, while arguing that looser regulations are essential to making the industry competitive again. West Virginia politicians of both parties still push for shoring up pensions for miners, for example, but the emphasis on matters like black lung has receded as the industry’s existence comes into question.