GLEN DANIEL, WV — The Trump administration suspended the latest federal study on the health effects of surface mining in Appalachia, and while some people living near mountaintop coal mines are frustrated by the move, they aren't entirely surprised.

Chuck Nelson spent his life in this corner of Appalachia, working for years in the coal mines — a good job in the economically depressed area. But the industry that helped him earn a living cost him his health, and his wife's, too, he said.

The 61-year-old Nelson said his kidney and liver disease was caused by well water he drank for years, he says, and his wife's severe asthma can be chalked up to the dust and particles from surface mines filling the air near their home. Some of his neighbors agree — and said surface mining in the mountains has been a primary culprit for various health problems. Several studies agree with them and they had been looking forward to shutting up critics of those studies with a new federal study that was supposed to provide the most comprehensive review to date.

Trump's decision to nix the study — blamed on budget problems — was a huge break for coal companies but a severe blow to people who want them to answer for the harm they say they've caused. Nelson and his neighbors weren't surprised — a previous federal study was canceled, too. The suspension feeds the mistrust they've long harbored for politicians who routinely side with businesses: If the study "comes out negative against the coal industry, it's swept under the rug, and the funding's stopped by these politicians who cater to the coal industry," Nelson said.

Studies and experts agree on some points: Mountaintop mining can release coal dust into the air that is carried on the wind. Debris from surface mines can harm streams, and the coal slurries from underground mines can seep chemically-treated waste into groundwater. Pollution can increase disease risks, but that's complicated by other factors. "With environmental damage or environmental issues, the problem is that most diseases that we are now concerned about are long-term diseases that take decades to appear," said David Rosner, Columbia professor of sociomedical sciences.

Rosner, a member of the organization overseeing the extensive mining study but not directly involved, said the canceled review was critical to understanding why so many people in these mountains are dying. "The science has actually created doubt rather than certainty about cause," he said. "What this becomes in the hands of politicians is an excuse for inaction."

The goal of the scuttled study — by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine — was a consensus from experts in various fields on potential short- and long-term health effects, focused on West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In May, the West Virginia Coal Association told scientists that large-scale mountaintop mining was mostly a thing of the past. State surface-mining production dropped from about 44 million tons (40 million metric tons) of coal in 2012 to 14 million tons (13 million metric tons) last year, it said. Association Vice President Jason Bostic declined to say whether the study should resume to resolve any remaining questions.