UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ WILGAR LAND COMPANY; OLD REPUBLIC INSURANCE │ COMPANY, │ Petitioners, │ > No. 22-3709 │ v. │ │ DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION │ PROGRAMS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; LINDA ROSE │ ADAMS, obo and widow of Tony Lee Adams, │ Respondents. │ ┘

On Petition for Review from the Benefits Review Board; Nos. 21-0216 BLA; 21-0217 BLA.

Argued: April 26, 2023

Decided and Filed: October 31, 2023

Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; BATCHELDER and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

_________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Mark E. Solomons, GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP, Washington, D.C., for Petitioners. William M. Bush, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Washington, D.C., for Respondent OWCP. Evan B. Smith, APPALRED LEGAL AID, Prestonsburg, Kentucky, for Respondent Adams. ON BRIEF: Mark E. Solomons, Michael A. Pusateri, GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP, Washington, D.C., for Petitioners. William M. Bush, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Washington, D.C., for Respondent OWCP. Evan B. Smith, APPALRED LEGAL AID, Prestonsburg, Kentucky, for Respondent Adams. No. 22-3709 Wilgar Land Co., et al. v. OWCP, et al. Page 2

_________________

OPINION _________________

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. The Black Lung Benefits Act authorizes benefits for coal miners who have “pneumoconiosis.” The Department of Labor’s regulatory definition of this term covers an obstructive lung disease such as emphysema if the disease arises from coal-mine work. Over two decades ago, the Department responded to criticisms of this broad definition in a regulatory “preamble” to its final regulation. The preamble interpreted the then-existing scientific studies to establish that coal-mine work can cause obstructive diseases, either alone or in combination with smoking. The administrative law judge who awarded benefits in this case repeatedly relied on this preamble to discredit a coal-mine operator’s three experts. In this petition for review, the operator argues that the judge wrongly treated the preamble as legally “binding.” We disagree. The judge simply found the preamble more persuasive than the experts. So we deny the operator’s petition for review. But we caution administrative law judges that their conclusions may lack substantial evidence if they over-rely on the preamble for propositions that it does not contain.

I

A

After years of working in dust-filled coal mines, many miners develop a respiratory condition medically known as “pneumoconiosis” and commonly known as “black lung disease.” See Nat’l Mining Ass’n v. Dep’t of Lab., 292 F.3d 849, 854 (D.C. Cir. 2002) (per curiam). To help these miners, Congress passed remedial legislation now known as the “Black Lung Benefits Act.” 30 U.S.C. § 901(b); see id. §§ 901–44. Congress has given the Department of Labor substantial authority to oversee this Act. See, e.g., 30 U.S.C. §§ 921(a); 932(a), (h).