1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

Why are you canceling the protections for coal miners at the same time coal mining is being encouraged? Silica cuts the lungs of those exposed and leaves them disabled at a very young age. This needs to be reversed! “The very same day as Trump’s big coal announcement, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a notice on its website informing stakeholders that the agency would be pausing the enforcement of its rule titled, “Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection.” The rule would have cut the allowable exposure level of deadly silica dust—20 times more toxic than coal dust and a major cause of black lung diseaseamong coal miners—in half. The rule was planned to take effect on April 14 after decades of lobbying from coal miners, public health experts and worker advocates. When it was published in 2024, the Department of Labor estimated the new rule would result in more than 1,000 fewer deaths and 3,746 fewer cases of silica-related illnesses. Trump’s attack on the regulations surrounding coal miners’ safety hasn’t stopped there. Through its proxies at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration has also announced the closure of 33 MSHA field offices in 19 states. As the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center noted in a March 2025 report, over the past decade, the agency already lost 50% of its enforcement staff for coal mines and 27% of its total staff. Those office closures will mean fewer inspectors and mine inspections, and fewer eyes on coal operators.” In Those Times report