Impact of 2025 Federal Government Shutdown on Mine Safety Agencies

Quick Hits

• MSHA has furloughed almost half of its staff, retaining only essential inspectors to conduct mandatory annual inspections and accident investigations.
• The FMSHRC administrative law judges will not review any filings until the Commission reopens after funding is restored.
• Mine operators must still meet thirty-day deadlines to contest citations and orders, even with reduced resources at MSHA and FMSHRC.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s shutdown contingency plan, MSHA has furloughed 711 agency personnel. Out of a total workforce of 1,590, 879 employees remain on duty. These remaining employees primarily include inspectors and enforcement personnel who are deemed “necessary to perform activities necessarily implied” by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act or “necessary to protect life and property.” Essentially, MSHA has retained these on-the-ground enforcement personnel to continue conducting mandatory annual inspections (two at surface mines and four at underground mines) and accident investigations. However, nonenforcement personnel, such as conference and litigation representatives, training staff, and compliance assistance experts, have been furloughed. As a result, there will be no informal conferences, compliance assistance visits, or training support available during the shutdown.

It remains to be seen how this will impact the updating of the data retrieval system and the agency’s ability to field enforcement questions and concerns. Patience is the watchword in these areas.

The reduction in MSHA’s staff does not change the compliance obligations and requirements of mine operators under the Mine Act. MSHA will continue to issue citations and orders, and mine operators must still comply with the same abatement obligations. Similarly, all Part 50 reporting requirements remain in effect. While the agency may not immediately review 7000-1 forms, mine operators are still required to file them.

The situation at FMSHRC is dramatically different. Pursuant to FMSHRC’s shutdown contingency plan, fifty-one of the overall fifty-five employees have been furloughed. The remaining personnel are the three presidentially appointed commissioners and the director of information technology. As a result, operations at FMSHRC have essentially come to a halt.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Glynn Voisin issued a notice just before the shutdown stating that judges “will not consider any documents filed in their current individual cases or having a due date during the period of closure until after funding has been restored and the Commission resumes business operations.” He further clarified that “[f]ollowing reopening of the Commission, Administrative Law Judges will handle any filings on a case-by-case basis.”

Despite the significant reduction or temporary absence of resources at MSHA and FMSHRC, mine operators must still adhere to the thirty-day contest deadlines to preserve their rights to challenge citations and orders in both pre-penalty and post-penalty cases.

Ogletree Deakins’ Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Governmental Affairs and Mine Safety blogs as additional information becomes available.

This article and more information on how the Trump administration’s actions impact employers can be found on Ogletree Deakins’ Administration Resource Hub.

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