Troubles at Mine Safety Agency Could Imperil ‘Green’ Investments

A little-known federal agency that will have an outsized role in the supply chain essential to the green economy is facing challenges with management and staffing, raising concerns among safety stakeholders and Labor Department officials.

The US Mine Safety and Health Administration is responsible for protecting the nation’s miners from workplace injuries and illnesses, as well as setting safety rules for US mines. While coal extraction has been on the decline in recent decades, the agency also oversees the extraction of metal components and other materials that will be in high demand with increases in green vehicle production and new infrastructure investments.

But the wave of new enforcement responsibilities comes as leadership at the personnel office that oversees a key step in the hiring process for the mine agency faces multiple allegations of mismanagement and a hostile work environment, complaints that prompted a meeting between DOL leadership and the union representing MSHA employees at the end of August.

The local president and executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 12 met with DOL leadership in late August “regarding the special situation of poor working conditions” at MSHA’s administration and management office, according to an email obtained by Bloomberg Law.

A current MSHA senior executive service level official in that office who requested anonymity to discuss personnel issues at the agency confirmed their own experience with hostility within the management office. Despite working at the agency for over a decade, the official said that the “hiring can’t keep up with the exits” within the department.

“The whole the department is supposed to protect workers. But it’s not protecting those people,” the official said.

Inspection Staffing

The issues at MSHA’s administration and management office land as the agency struggles to recoup its inspection staff, which has dwindled to the lowest number in a decade.

MSHA lost roughly 30% of its staff from 2013 to 2022, budget documents and data from the agency show. MSHA had 1,697 staff on board as of September, a DOL spokesperson said. By law, MSHA is required to inspect underground mines a minimum of four times a year, and surface mines twice a year. The most recent data available from 2021 show that there were 12,602 active mines in the US.

Congress has allocated mostly flat funding for the agency in the last four fiscal years. But in the wake of the infrastructure investments and new production, the Biden administration requested a 10% boost to MSHA’s funding in FY 2023, estimating that 600 new mines will be opened and 1,800 will be expanded.

Staffing is critical for the agency ahead of the infrastructure investment, and training a mine inspector can take two years, said Richard Miller, former director of Labor Policy on the Committee on Education and Labor, who has since retired.

“You’ve got to look forward to rebuilding your inspectorate if you want to even anticipate greater mining production,” he said. “There’s a real risk that if you are forced to send mine inspectors in without adequate experience, you will risk MSHA not adequately overseeing mines with enough competence.”

MSHA’s administration office is in charge of selecting and reviewing resumes of safety inspectors, as well as ensuring that the inspectors who are hired are physically able to work. The office employs roughly 135 staff, according to an estimate from late 2020.

‘Hostile’ Work Environment

Amid the expected influx of new mining demands for metals and gravel products and a need for more inspectors, current and former employees and officials say top management at MSHA’s administrative office in Arlington, Va., have subjected staff to a hostile work environment.

At least five discrimination complaints have been lodged against leadership at that office, according to copies of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filings reviewed by Bloomberg Law. In addition to inspector safety, the office is also responsible for generally keeping the mine safety agency running, overseeing the general administrative operations including budget, payroll, grant making, and promotions. The complaints are pending completion of investigation or negotiating settlement options.

Nine current and former MSHA employees and officials interviewed by Bloomberg Law, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation in future government work and in their pending EEO cases, say they experienced a hostile work environment at the management office that included demotions and declined accommodation requests.

The adverse treatment from top MSHA officials—which involved career employees, not appointed leaders and included charges of micromanagement, favoritism, bullying, and intimidation—began as early as 2018, according to interviews with current and former staff. The EEO complaints specifically detail incidents starting at the end of 2018 and continuing through the summer of 2022.

“I could not go back there. It was so traumatic of an experience not just because of how poorly I was treated, but also because of how poorly everyone else was treated,” said one former MSHA employee.

All the employees interviewed for this story said that members of management intentionally wrote them poor evaluations without merit to demote them, despite a history of high performance, and some provided documentation showing they appealed and fought the negative feedback.

In another instance, one MSHA employee said it took the agency eight months to respond to their accommodation request while getting treatment for chronic medical conditions. Co-workers warned the employee they could face backlash from managers if they filed a grievance.

“They were like, ‘You know if you file a grievance, it’s gonna be really bad on you,’” the MSHA employee said. “It was a lot of retaliation and they get away with this. And the union doesn’t help. It doesn’t help because people are afraid.”

AFGE Local 12, which represents workers at the MSHA administrative office, declined to comment.

Donald “Don” Blankenship, former chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co., left, and one of his attorneys enter court on Dec. 2, 2015. A jury found Blankenship guilty of a misdemeanor conspiring to willfully violate safety standards and was sentenced to one year in prison related to the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29. He was found not guilty on other charges.

Photographer: Emily Harger/Bloomberg

Safety Fears

Former safety officials and advisers say that MSHA’s enforcement capabilities can mean life or death in the mines.

“One of the things that Congress recognized in developing the agency, in creating the agency, is that the enforcement part of regulations is extremely important,” said Celeste Monforton, a lecturer in public health at Texas State University and former special assistant at MSHA during the Clinton administration.

“You can have regulations on the books but if there’s not an inspector that is double checking, going to the mine, making sure that the employer is following those regulations, they don’t do any good,” she said.

The United Mine Workers of America, which represents US coal miners, declined to comment on the specific allegations. But Erin Bates, the communications director for the union, said via email there are “definitely some issues with hiring and the agency being shorthanded.”

Because of the lack of staff “there have been situations where they are bringing in inspectors from out-of-state who are less familiar with that State’s mining requirements/guidelines which in turn can affect the safety of the mines,” Bates said. “There have also been situations where there are new hires with less experience and we have also noticed a delay in getting the silica rule out, which is concerning.”

Miller, formerly of the Education and Labor committee, noted the similarities between MSHA’s current staffing issues and how they parallel the conditions leading up to the deadly 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.

MSHA’s internal review of the disaster concluded that reductions in the agency’s inspection workforce and a lack of experience among inspectors were some of the underlying causes of the accident that killed 29 people.

“I fear we are headed in the same direction again,” Miller said, “allowing depletion of staffing, and an inability to dig out due to long lead times to hire and train up inspectors.”