“Just don’t send somebody else that says we’re looking to it. When you look into my face and see how I’m suffering, my life is cut short and y’all don’t care,” President of the National Black Lung association, Gary Hairston said.

Silica dust is linked to black lung. The government has been working towards implementing a rule which would limit how much of that dust miners are allowed breathe at work, but the U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals decided to push back the implementation of this rule until October.

“It hurts us that we can’t get anything done. Even when we tried with the silica rule, it’s set back again, so we’re hurting again. They want to push it back until October. Now they’re talking about not even doing that. Just kind of let it float out there so our coal miners will be dead. That’s right. Our young coal miners,” Hairston said.

This rule could cut exposure levels in half for miners. Members of the Black Lung Association said delaying this is a deadly setback.