Trump’s Mine Safety Nominee Inherits Workforce Cuts, Legal Fight

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency charged with overseeing mine safety will have to balance a push to deregulate the industry and cut the federal workforce while maintaining guaranteed protections for workers.

Wayne Palmer, who served as principal deputy assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health during Trump’s first term, was nominated to lead the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. Palmer would return to MSHA after working as an executive at the Essential Minerals Association, a trade association for the industrial minerals industry.

If confirmed by the Senate, Palmer would play a significant role in MSHA’s approach to the challenged silica rule and backfilling inspectors after the agency faced an almost 40 percent reduction in inspectors from 2011 to 2021. Palmer, who has personal family ties to the mining community, has bounced between serving in government roles and the private sector for more than two decades, according to his LinkedIn profile.

While Trump’s selection of Palmer has been met with praise from the business community, worker safety professionals say they worry about Palmer’s ability to oversee mine safety in an administration that’s working to slash the federal workforce and agency regulations.

“He has relevant experience; but given the revolving door nature of his recent career, I’m obviously concerned about whether he possesses what boils down to a deregulatory agenda,” said Michael Duff, a professor of law at St. Louis University School of Law and the grandson of a Kentucky coal miner who died from black lung disease.

Challenged Silica Final Rule

The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, one of the challengers to the final silica rule—which requires all underground and surface mines to reduce the amount of breathable silica dust in the air by workers by 50%—penned a letter of support for Palmer.

Silica dust can scar workers’ lungs when inhaled—leading to the disease silicosis, which makes it difficult to breath. A rise in the number of miners with black lung disease and other respiratory disease prompted the regulation—which would cover more than 200,000 workers.

Senators on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the panel responsible for overseeing MHSA nominees, will look to get a clear understanding of Palmer’s position on the silica rule as it has been a major point of contention since the Biden administration first issued the regulation.

NSSGA represents industrial sand producers and those who manufacture equipment and services to support the mining and construction industries, according to the letter. NSSGA members have upwards of 9,000 facilities and more than 100,000 employees, said Michele Stanley, the interim CEO. The EMA, where Palmer was an executive, filed an amicus brief in support of the challenge to MSHA’s final silica rule.

“His knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in our industry will promote cooperation and collaboration, allowing MSHA to continue advancing health and safety efforts while understanding industry needs to ensure efficient production of our essential materials that support our nation’s economy,” Stanley wrote in the letter addressed to Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman and ranking member of the HELP Committee, respectively.

NSSGA, along with a slew of other mining trade associations, are challenging the silica rule in the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The business groups have argued, among other things, that US Supreme Court precedent requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to demonstrate a significant risk before altering a standard also applies to MSHA.

MSHA has maintained the rule falls within the federal government’s statutory authority and is supported by decades of scientific research that shows it’s feasible.

Samuel H. Pond, managing partner of Pond Lehocky, says he’s concerned about an erosion of workplace safety measures at the federal level under the Trump administration. Pond says he fears the growing demand for coal could lead to a resurgence of black lung for miners.

“I don’t think that’s hyperbole, I think that could be a reality,” Pond said.

Pond said staffing cuts could hurt the quality of mine inspections being done. MSHA under the Biden Administration sought to hire more inspectors as part of its efforts to increase its enforcement scheme—a direct contrast from the Trump Administrations efforts to slash the federal workforce.

Trump’s DOL has terminated employees across at least six departments, including MSHA, which could potentially curb the agency’s ability to conduct safety inspections for workers.

The number of inspectors at MSHA is likely to decline unless the agency explicitly exempts them, according to Pond.

MSHA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.