Mine safety offices in Pa. pulled from list of DOGE closures

All four mine safety offices in Pennsylvania that were scheduled to have their leases terminated have been pulled from a list of federal government offices to be closed as part of extensive cost-cutting measures.

Mine Safety and Health Administration offices in Hempfield, Marshall Township, Waynesburg and Frackville in Schuylkill County were part of the 34 MSHA offices removed from the list of mine safety offices that were to have leases terminated, as targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The Hempfield office, whose mine safety inspectors cover multiple states, had been listed for lease termination on Friday. The planned closure would have saved the government $800,000. The MSHA website lists five employees at the office.

A Department of Labor spokesman could not be reached for comment on the reversal, but the Labor Department said last week it is working with the General Services Administration — the agency that oversees federal real estate matters — to ensure that the mine safety inspectors are able to do their jobs to prevent injuries and deaths in mines, according to an Associated Press report.

General Services Administration spokesperson Amina Brock could not be reached for comment.

The Labor Department’s May 29 decision to reverse the plans to terminate the leases comes after the United Mine Workers of America and other mine safety advocates raised concerns about negative impact on mine safety, the UMWA said last week. Federal mine safety inspectors work from the mine safety offices, which the UMWA noted are often in remote mining communities.

“We’ve said from day one that cutting these offices would compromise inspectors’ ability to respond quickly to accidents, enforce safety regulations, and protect the lives of our members and their co-workers,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts.

A MSHA spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

The UMWA said it wants the GSA and the Labor Department to provide full transparency about which offices remain at risk, and to halt any remaining efforts to reduce the government’s mine safety infrastructure. Offices in Kentucky and Texas remain on the lease-termination list.