Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/917007
36 AGGREGATES MANAGER / January 2018 What does the future of MSHA hold under former mine executive David Zatezalo's leadership? Ross J. Watzman is a counsel in Jackson Kelly PLLC's Denver office, where he practices in the Occupational Safety and Health Group. He can be reached at 303-390- 0189 or ross.watzman@ jacksonkelly.com. Meet the New Assistant Secretary O n Nov. 15, 2017, the U.S. Senate voted 52-46 to make former mine executive David Zatezalo the Department of Labor's assistant secretary for mine safety and health. Once he is sworn in to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Zatezalo will be responsible for safety across all of the nation's mines. He takes the position last held by Joseph A. Main, a former United Mine Workers of America safety official. By the time you read this, Assistant Secretary Zatezalo will have figured out the lay of the land and pos- sibly started putting his stamp on the agency. Zatezalo earned a mining engineering deg- ree from West Virginia University in 1977 and an MBA from Ohio University. He later became a mine foreman and, subsequently, general superintendent for Southern Ohio Coal Co. He moved to Australia, where he worked for Broken Hill Proprietary as a general mine manager. Finally, Zatezalo returned to Lexington, Ky., to head Rhino Resources GP LLC un- til his retirement in 2014. Having begun his career as a coal miner and having worked his way up the ranks to president and CEO, Zatezalo has a keen understanding of the needs of the mining industry. So what will likely be Zatezalo's focus in the remaining three years of his term and what is in store for the future of MSHA? First, in a previous column, I mentioned that we may potentially see an MSHA that stresses compliance assistance and regulatory reform rather than concentrating strictly on enforcement and rule promulgation, as had been the emphasis of the prior administration. For the past eight years, MSHA has maintained an aggressive regulatory agenda, focusing on topics such as workplace exams, silica exposure, and pattern of violations. It has also been continuously regulating by policy without notice-and-comment rulemaking. However, in his first week in office, President Trump issued Executive Order 13771, which aims to "manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations." It requires that "for every new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process." In light of Executive Order 13771, MSHA issued a notice on Oct. 23, 2017, indicating its desire to seek stakeholders' assistance in identifying those regulations that could be repealed, replaced, or modified without reducing miners' safety or health. While input from stakeholders is certainly welcome and necessary, it remains prudent to couch any recommendations in the correct light given the requirements of the Mine Act. Section 101 of the Mine Act proscribes that "no manda- tory health or safety standard promulgated under this title shall reduce the protection afforded miners by an existing mandatory health or safety standard." Thus, opponents of the new administ- ration's regulatory reform effort will undoubtedly explore utilizing Section 101 in legal challenges to situations where either regulations are reformed ROCKLAW Ross J. Watzman