{"id":1100,"date":"2017-08-23T11:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mshadefensereport.com\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:17:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:17:26","slug":"department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/","title":{"rendered":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Nicholas W. Scala<\/a><\/p>\n

While it remains to be seen whether a formal presidential appointee will be tapped to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Trump Administration finally made an influx of leadership decisions for the agency.\u00a0\"Update\"<\/p>\n

The Department of Labor announced that Wayne Palmer, former Chief of Staff to Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, is now the acting head of MSHA. Palmer\u2019s replacement at the Department of Labor, Nicholas Geale (who is also the Department\u2019s acting Solicitor), stated that Palmer is from Pennsylvania and has \u201cmining in his family\u2019s background.\u201d However, it is not readily apparent if he has any professional experience working with the mining industry. Palmer\u2019s political experience includes working for Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and George Voinovich (R-OH), as well as lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n

It is still believed the administration will nominate an appointee to serve as permanent Assistant Secretary for MSHA in the coming months, but until that day comes and the nominee is approved by the Senate, Palmer will lead MSHA.<\/p>\n

Will Palmer\u2019s presence will serve to further the President\u2019s vow of deregulation? That\u2019s a timely question given MSHA\u2019s final rule for the Examination of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines is set to go into effect on October 2, 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Nicholas W. Scala While it remains to be seen whether a formal presidential appointee will be tapped to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Trump Administration finally made an influx of leadership decisions for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-msha-leadership-rulemaking-standards"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDepartment of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By:\u00a0Nicholas W. Scala While it remains to be seen whether a formal presidential appointee will be tapped to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Trump Administration finally made an influx of leadership decisions for…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MSHA Defense Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Scala\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Scala\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Scala\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6\"},\"headline\":\"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":233,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/update.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"MSHA Leadership, Rulemaking & Standards\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/update.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/update.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/update.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/\",\"name\":\"MSHA Defense Report\",\"description\":\"Conn Maciel Carey\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6\",\"name\":\"Nick Scala\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nick Scala\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.connmaciel.com\\\/msha-defense-report\\\/author\\\/scalanw\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report","og_description":"By:\u00a0Nicholas W. Scala While it remains to be seen whether a formal presidential appointee will be tapped to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Trump Administration finally made an influx of leadership decisions for…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/","og_site_name":"MSHA Defense Report","article_published_time":"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1428,"url":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nick Scala","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nick Scala","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/"},"author":{"name":"Nick Scala","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/#\/schema\/person\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6"},"headline":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)","datePublished":"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/"},"wordCount":233,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update.jpg","articleSection":["MSHA Leadership, Rulemaking & Standards"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/","url":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/","name":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - MSHA Defense Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-23T15:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-20T16:17:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/#\/schema\/person\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/mshadefensereport.connmaciel.stagingarea.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/update.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/department-of-labor-names-wayne-palmer-acting-head-of-mine-safety-and-health-administration-msha\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Department of Labor Names Wayne Palmer Acting Head of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/","name":"MSHA Defense Report","description":"Conn Maciel Carey","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/#\/schema\/person\/1f33b1a482237191232e2c2a193a10c6","name":"Nick Scala","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b3420beddf5d14f2837b35ede542838e7fe55a469c41374817bc6ce44d9fcd16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nick Scala"},"url":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/author\/scalanw\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/msha-defense-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}