It’s Trump Time. But while Elon and the Trump regime pillage protections for workers, consumers and the environment, there is great hope throughout the land that progressive states will take action to resist their antidemocratic urges and fill the deadly gaps that Trump has created.
But some more conservative states seem to be taking Trump’s election as a signal to move in the opposite direction.
When it comes to undermining workplace safety and health, the Kentucky legislature is on the forefront, first with a bill undermining the state’s OSHA program, and now with legislation that will weaken the health and safety protections for coal miners.
Legislature Weakens Protections for Coal Miners
I wrote last week about a Kentucky bill that would weaken the state’s OSHA program. But weakening protections for general industry and construction workers apparently isn’t enough for Kentucky state legislators. Miners are also expected to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the mine operators.
On the Federal level, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) oversees the safety of miners. But some coal mining states, like Kentucky, have laws that exceed federal MSHA requirements. For example, Kentucky currently requires two emergency trained “mine emergency technicians” (METs) at all coal mines while they’re producing coal.
Weakening protections for general industry and construction workers apparently isn’t enough for Kentucky state legislators. Miners are also expected to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the mine operators.
As the Kentucky Lantern describes
METs are trained to provide emergency medical care and stabilize a miner’s condition. The free training required to receive a state certification to become a MET takes at least 40 hours and includes learning about cardiac emergencies, muscular and skeletal injuries and bleeding and shock.
But coal industry representatives and their Republican allies think the requirement for two METS is unfair for small mines. So last week, the Kentucky Legislature passed House Bill 196 and sent it to the Governor’s desk. HB 196 reduces the number of emergency certified workers to just one for mines with 10 or fewer employees per shift. For every 50 workers per shift, they’d have to add another emergency-trained technician on staff.
That reduction would apply to a majority of Kentucky mines. Although slightly less than half of Kentucky mines employ ten or fewer miners, the language of the bill refers to ten workers “per shift,” would would mean that well over half of all Kentucky mines would be covered.
Blood on Their Hands
Nationwide, ten miners have already been killed on the job this year – more than triple the number for the same period in 2024. Mine safety advocates argue that the Kentucky legislation will cause more miners to die and they accuse Republicans of supporting coal corporations at the expense of coal miners.
Opponents of the legislation have warned that ending the protection afforded by requiring two METs — essentially having a backup if the other MET is unable to provide aid — would endanger miner safety.
Tony Oppegard, an attorney and former mine safety inspector who helped write a 2007 mine safety law that required two METs, has said the requirement was spurred by the 2005 death of a Harlan County miner, David “Bud” Morris. The then 29-year-old didn’t receive proper first aid to stop bleeding after a loaded coal hauler nearly amputated both of his legs. The lone MET on site failed to give Morris necessary medical care.
Stella Morris, the widow of David Morris, testified against the bill in that committee. Morris’ son, who was a baby when Morris died, has also spoken out against the legislation.
Stella Morris, Bud Morris’ widow, dismissed any suggestion that her late husband’s death wasn’t preventable, pointing to a federal report after his death that quoted a paramedic as saying there would have been “a very different outcome” if Bud had received basic first aid.
She said she supports the coal mining industry in her Eastern Kentucky community but ultimately does not want another family to go through the loss of a loved one like her family did.
“I don’t feel like they care about the miners,” Morris told the Lantern. “I feel like all they cared about today when they voted was the coal industry, but without the miners, you don’t have a coal industry.”
As with the OSHA bill referenced before, the vote on HB 196 came down along party lines.
“If the General Assembly overrides his veto, then they will have blood on their hands if the legislation ends up costing a miner his life.” — Tony Oppegard
Oppegard hopes the Governor will veto the bill. “If the General Assembly overrides his veto, then they will have blood on their hands if the legislation ends up costing a miner his life.”
Oppegard…opposed HB 196 from its introduction. He said Republican lawmakers by lowering the requirement will risk the death of a coal miner while saving “one of their coal operator buddies,” according to his estimate, roughly $40 to $50 a week to pay a second MET on site.
“Let’s be clear: Republican legislators don’t care about the safety and health of miners,” Oppegard said. “Only the most callous people on the face of the earth think that way.”
Weakening the State OSHA Program
Meanwhile, the bill I wrote about last week, HR 398, has now passed both the Kentucky House and Senate, and has been sent to the Governor for his signature or veto. The final legislation was a slight improvement over the original bill, removing references to “qualified” representatives and deleting some of the bad language restricting workers or their representative from walking around with OSHA inspectors.
But language remains that would prohibit the state’s OSHA program from enforcing standards that exceed federal standards, make penalties optional, shorten the time to file a retaliation complaint and allow companies to sue the state for legal costs.
If Democratic Governor Andy Beshear vetoes the bill, the Legislature has the votes to override. If the bill becomes law, the ball will be in federal OSHA’s court to judge whether the state OSHA program remains “at least as effective as” the federal program.
Beshear has to stand tough against these actions to weaken safety laws. The current fatality rate in mining is horrifying!