Libby Lindsay spent 21 years working underground as a miner for Bethlehem Steel in West Virginia. She saw many safety improvements over the years, and always felt grateful that she could call the local Mine Safety and Health Administration office whenever she wondered whether a rule was being followed. She joined the safety committees launched by the local chapter of the United Mine Workers, which collaborated with the agency to watchdog coal companies. She understood the price that had been paid for the regulations it enforced. “Every law was written in blood,” she said. “It’s there because somebody was injured or killed.”

Still, she and others who work the nation’s mines worry President Trump is about to limit the agency’s local reach. As his administration targets federal buildings for closure and sale, 35 of its offices are on the list. Fifteen are in Appalachian coalfields, with seven in eastern Kentucky alone and the others concentrated in southern West Virginia and southeastern Pennsylvania. Of the remaining 20 offices, many are in the West, in remote corners of Wyoming, Nevada, and Colorado. Miners’ advocates worry these closures could reduce the capacity of an agency that’s vastly improved mining safety over the past 50 years or so and could play a vital role as the Trump administration promotes fossil fuels like coal, and as decarbonization efforts increase the need for lithium and other metals.

Since its inception in 1977, the agency has operated under the auspices of the Department of Labor to reduce the risks of what has always been one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. Before Congress created the agency, known as MSHA, hundreds of miners died each year, in explosions, tunnel collapses, and equipment malfunctions. (The number was far higher through the 1940s, often reaching into the thousands.) Last year, 31 people died in mining accidents, according to the agency’s data. Even after accounting for coal’s steady decline, that tally, while still tragic, reflects major strides in safety.

“Coal mining is a tough business. It’s a very competitive business. There’s always a temptation to compete on safety, to cut corners on safety, to make that your competitive advantage as a mine operator,” Christopher Mark, a government mine safety specialist who has spent decades making the job safer, told Grist. “And it’s our job to make sure that nobody can do that.”

Trump’s pick to lead MSHA, Wayne Palmer, who is awaiting confirmation, previously was vice president of the Essential Minerals Association, a trade association representing extraction companies. The Department of Labor declined to comment on the proposed lease terminations. A representative of the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal offices, told Grist that any locations being considered for closure have been made aware of that, and some lease terminations may be rescinded or not issued at all. 

Many of the country’s remaining underground coal mines – the most dangerous kind – are located in Appalachia. MSHA has historically placed its field offices in mining communities. Although the number of coal mines has declined by more than half since 2008, tens of thousands of miners still work the coalfields. Many of them still venture underground.

The dwindling number of fatalities comes even as the MSHA has been plagued by continued staffing and funding shortfalls, with the federal Office of the Inspector General repeatedly admonishing the agency for falling below its own annual inspection targets. It also has recommended more frequent sampling to ensure mine operators protect workers from toxic coal and silica dust. After decades of work, federal regulators finally tightened silica exposure rules, but miners and their advocates worry too little staffing and too few inspections could hamper enforcement. 

“There are going to be fewer inspections, which means that operators that are not following the rules are going to get away with not following the rules for longer than they would have,” said Chelsea Barnes, the director of government affairs and strategy at environmental justice nonprofit Appalachian Voices. The organization has worked with union members and advocates for those with black lung disease to lobby for stricter silica dust exposure limits.

Last month, the United Mine Workers’ Association denounced the proposed office closures. As demand for coal continues to decline, it worries that companies could pinch pennies to maximize profits — or avoid bankruptcy. ​​”Companies are completely dependent upon the price of coal,” said Phil Smith, executive assistant to union president Cecil Roberts. ”[If] it’s bad enough, they think, ‘Well, we can cut a corner here. We can pick a penny there.’”

The Biden administration made an effort to staff the agency. In the waning days of Biden’s term, Chris Williamson, who led the agency at the time, told Grist he was “very proud of rebuilding our team” because “you can’t go out and enforce the silica standard or enforce other things if you don’t have the people in place to do it.” The union worries that the Trump administration, which has pursued sweeping layoffs throughout the government, will target MSHA, where many of the Biden hires remain probationary employees. Despite the previous administration’s attempts to bolster the agency, it still missed inspections due to understaffing.

Anyone who isn’t terminated will have to relocate to larger offices if Trump shutters local outposts, placing them further from the mines they keep tabs on. In addition to inspecting underground mines at least quarterly and surface mines biannually, inspectors make more frequent checks of operations where toxic gases are present. They also respond to complaints. Work now done by people in the offices throughout eastern Kentucky likely would be consolidated in Lexington, Kentucky, or Wise County, Virginia, which are 200 miles apart. 

Field offices have been consolidated before, and mining experts acknowledged there may be a time and a place for such things, but it’s highly unusual to close so many without due process. In early March, the House Committee on Education and Workforce submitted a letter to Vince Micone, the acting secretary of labor, requesting documents and information on the closures and expressing concern that as many as 90 mine inspection job offers may have been rescinded. Their letter specifically referred to the agency’s history of understaffing that led to catastrophes like the Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 people in 2010, the nation’s worst mining accident in four decades.

“One of the lessons of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, according to MSHA’s own internal investigation, is that staffing disruptions at the managerial level resulted in MSHA’s inspectors failing to adequately address smaller-scale methane explosions in the months leading up the massive explosion that killed 29 miners fifteen years ago this April,” read the letter, which was signed by Democratic representatives Bobby Scott of Virginia and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

The impact of potential cuts stretches far beyond coal, into the mines that will extract the lithium and other metals needed for clean energy and other industries. As of last year, the nation employed almost 256,000 metal and nonmetal miners who pull copper, zinc, and other things from the earth. “It’s an agency that matters, regardless of how we’re producing our energy,” said Chelsea Barnes of Appalachian Voices.

After spending so much time in the mines, Lindsay is concerned by the direction the Trump administration is heading, even as lawmakers in states like West Virginia and Kentucky have in recent years attempted to roll back regulations. “That’s going to be the future of MSHA,” she said. “They’re going to be in name only. Miners are going to die. And nobody but their families are going to care.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Trump administration moves to shutter mine safety offices in coal country on Mar 25, 2025.

BELLEFONTE — Rural health services would get an injection of taxpayer dollars to keep their doors open and recruit more professionals to work in remote communities under Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget.

The $51.4 billion pitch unveiled to lawmakers earlier this month also includes a $25 million expansion of an agriculture grant program and increased spending on outdoor recreation that local officials say is key to boosting local revenue.

The Democrat’s proposal — which Republicans say uses inflated revenue projections — marks the beginning of months of hearings and budget negotiations. Pennsylvania lawmakers have until June 30 to send a finalized spending plan to the governor’s desk for approval.

RENOVO — Tracy Bruno had just ordered breakfast at Socky’s Restaurant when she suddenly felt dizzy.

The next thing she knew, her husband Gene Bruno, the mayor of Renovo Borough, was calling 911. But rather than wait for first responders, the couple decided to drive five minutes to Bucktail Medical Center, rural Clinton County’s only inpatient hospital.

Bruno, who had felt sick all weekend and planned to see a doctor on Monday, was treated for hypoglycemia. Without Bucktail Medical Center, her options for care would’ve been 35 minutes away in Lock Haven at an outpatient center or an hour away in a Lycoming County hospital.

Emergency dispatchers in rural Tioga County typically get 75 to 100 calls a day.

But when the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby brought a daylong deluge to parts of Pennsylvania and New York in early August, they fielded more than 500 requests for help and dispatched assistance 311 times in roughly seven hours.

The heavy rain started in the morning, quickly overwhelming local waterways. Floods washed out roads, swept away cars, poured into basements, and knocked houses off their foundations. Most of the calls came from people who couldn’t escape their homes. In some situations, first responders couldn’t reach them. Tioga County reported one fatality.

EMPORIUM — In early August, Sheetz announced plans to shutter its only location in rural Cameron County, and the closure was all anyone could talk about.

The small north-central community in the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds would lose the only 24/7 gas station for miles. Residents, who’ve watched industries come and go over the years, thought this was just the latest economic blow. Meanwhile, local leaders tried to sway the company into staying by proposing other properties. They worried the gap would damage traffic and tourism throughout the region, which is known for its outdoor recreation and dark skies.

BELLEFONTE — More than $1 million in aid is available to people in four rural Pennsylvania counties hit hard by the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby.

Heavy rains and floods devastated parts of Lycoming, Potter, Tioga, and Union Counties in early August. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $1.3 million to help those displaced or otherwise affected by the storm.

As of Oct. 7, the federal agency has received 960 requests for assistance from Pennsylvanians. The deadline to apply for individual assistance is Nov. 12. So far, Tioga County residents have submitted the most requests, totaling 403.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s near-total ban on Sunday hunting has long had the support of farmers and outdoor groups, but crop-hungry deer and swing district lawmakers could tip the state toward lifting restrictions.
The debate over hunting on Sundays isn’t new in Harrisburg, but this year something changed: The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau dropped its longstanding opposition to the practice, potentially clearing the way for a shift.
Farmers like Mark Duda made the trade association change its tune.

(RNS) — Vance’s remarks seemed aimed at quelling some of the controversy that sprang up after he and Donald Trump accused Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, of eating townspeople’s pets.

The post Vance, at Christian nationalist revival, says immigration stance is in keeping with faith appeared first on RNS.

In 2017, when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared the electoral system “critical infrastructure,” state and local election officials around the country were forced to take cybersecurity much more seriously. And it wasn’t long before physical threats and misinformation also became a greater concern. 

In North Carolina, state board of elections director Karen Brinson Bell said the DHS’s designation “didn’t take anything off her plate.” Instead, the responsibilities of election officials like her only grew, especially in battleground states like North Carolina.

In the lead up to this year’s election, Brinson Bell said “everything is a concern” when it comes to election security. Like her counterparts across the region, she’s especially focused on cybersecurity, preventing physical threats and battling misinformation around the elections process, while communicating to voters that the electoral system in North Carolina is actually safe and secure. 

“We had to become much more adept at telling our story, being accessible to the public, helping them understand what is really a complex, methodical, multilayer process in all that we do,” Brinson Bell said. “And it’s not soundbite friendly.”

Other states in the region like Pennsylvania, which was at the center of the 2020 election denial campaign and is considered a “must-win” for both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential race, are also confronting the same concerns as North Carolina. 

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania launched a task force focused on election threats like misinformation related to the adoption of new voting systems and no-excuse mail-in voting.  

“In recent years, we’ve seen bad-faith actors attempt to exploit these changes by spreading lies and baseless conspiracy theories, and attempting to delegitimize our safe, secure and accurate elections,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt in a February news release. “This task force has been working together to develop and coordinate plans to combat this dangerous misinformation and continue providing all eligible voters with accurate, trusted election information.”

2020 Hindsight

Many election officials didn’t have a plan for handling the 2020 presidential election fallout, Brinson Bell said. From protests fueled by misinformation and lawsuits seeking to overturn the results, states like Georgia and Pennsylvania were mired in controversy, and North Carolina was “just on the bubble” of facing the same issues. 

“For North Carolina, we have to think about, what can we learn from those states?” Brinson Bell said. “It’s unfortunate what they went through, but it’s unfortunate if we don’t learn from it.” 

In North Carolina, according to one recent poll, nearly 50% of those who responded said they won’t believe the results of the election.  

One major focus for Brinson Bell is making sure that voters understand the election process and how it actually operates — even promoting physical transparency at the county level, like urging election staff to use clear plastic tubs with labels to store ballots instead of recycled cardboard boxes. 

“That’s not election jargon,” Brinson Bell said, “but it’s something clear to the public.” 

Now, Georgia, another battleground state in the region, is mired in controversy surrounding its state election board, which recently approved new rules that critics believe will “sow confusion, compromise ballot security and potentially enable rogue county boards to block certification of election results in November,” according to reporting by the Washington Post.  

Later this month, the board is scheduled to vote on whether to require counties to count ballots by hand at each precinct, which critics believe could produce inaccurate results and be less secure. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger described the election board as “a mess,” and told the Washington Post, “Legal precedent is pretty clear. You shouldn’t change rules in the middle of an election.” 

Physical Security, New Rules and Turnover

Elections officials are also working to boost physical security in the lead-up to the election. 

In North Carolina, Brinson Bell said workers are securing doors and installing panic buttons at county elections offices. Staff are also being trained in de-escalation techniques to counter voter intimidation and other physical threats. Earlier this year, Georgia passed an election security law requiring police to take a one-hour class on election laws, which also included training in de-escalation, though the new law doesn’t go into effect until 2025. 

In North Carolina, a 2023 voter identification law will be in effect for this year’s election and photo ID will be required. Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio also have strict photo ID requirements for voting.

Staff turnover, specifically county election directors, has been another concern of Brinson Bell, who earlier this summer said more than 60% of county election directors have left their post since 2019. For many of the replacements, she said, this will be their first presidential election. 

“While there’s much that’s the same processes and routines, the volume, the intense scrutiny and being a battleground state with so many high profile contests on our ballot this year, it’s just a different environment to be a new director,” Brinson Bell said.  

Urban-Rural Divide

It’s not just Appalachia’s battleground states taking election security seriously. Other states in the region are also working to combat misinformation and thwart physical and cybersecurity threats.

Deak Kersey, chief deputy and chief of staff for the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, said the state has focused on cybersecurity since DHS’s critical infrastructure designation went into effect. 

“West Virginia was not in a great spot eight years ago,” Kersey said. “Nobody knew what cybersecurity really was, as far as the Feds really considered it.” 

Since then, the state has pushed to disperse Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, funds to counties, which have used the funds to update voting equipment, like purchasing new ballot-marking equipment that’s ADA accessible and electronic poll books. In August, the state election commission approved sending nearly $1 million in HAVA funds to 24 counties. 

DHS also awarded $1 million to North Carolina this year, but the money can’t be spent until the state’s General Assembly authorizes it. If and when it does, then the state elections office will have to decide whether to disperse it between counties or keep some of it at the state level to continue funding a statewide cybersecurity expert to monitor for doxing, denial-of-service attacks, phishing schemes and other online threats.  

“I don’t mean to make light of a million dollars, but that doesn’t go far in a state with 100 counties,” Brinson Bell said.

The funding issues hit especially hard in the state’s rural counties.

“I think some of the concerns in Western North Carolina really are reflective of sort of that rural-urban divide in North Carolina — the economically distressed counties versus those that are prospering more,” Brinson Bell said. 

It’s a concern across Appalachia, where most of the region is rural. And while federal funding will help, elections officials have less than two months left before the election to see how far it will go to update equipment, implement new security measures and hire new people to replace outgoing directors.

The post In Appalachia’s Battleground States, Election Officials Worry About Cyber Security, Physical Threats and Misinformation appeared first on 100 Days in Appalachia.