President Donald Trump\u2019s administration needs you to get a job\u2014within the mines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Division of Labor<\/span> <\/span>posted a link<\/span><\/a> on X on Monday promoting job openings for coal miners practically every week after Trump<\/span> <\/span>signed an executive order<\/span><\/a> clearing the way in which for extra \u201c<\/span>beautiful, clean coal<\/span><\/a>\u201d manufacturing on public lands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Naturally, this didn\u2019t sit properly with the general public, given widespread data of how mining jobs considerably affect human well being.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMake Black Lung nice once more,\u201d one consumer replied on X.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cwhy do you assume Individuals need to work in coal mines once more?\u201d one other wrote. \u201care you fvcking loopy?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After all, for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, that is simply one other day within the books. Her earlier contributions to American employees embody advocating to chop packages aimed toward<\/span> <\/span>fighting child labor<\/span><\/a>. And her division\u2019s X put up fortunately marketed that folks might \u201cleap begin\u201d their careers by diving into the mines.<\/span><\/p>\n Whereas coal made up for <\/span>less than a fifth<\/span><\/a> of America’s power manufacturing in 2023, it\u2019s not simply the push for environmentally taxing fossil fuels that has folks up in arms. Slightly, the Trump administration\u2019s newest strikes have sparked large security issues for present and future miners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Seemingly because of Trump\u2019s race to make fossil-fuel billionaires completely satisfied, the federal government\u2019s Mine Security and Well being Administration <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> on April 8\u2014the <\/span>same day<\/span><\/a> that Trump signed the order\u2014that it could quickly pause a long-in-the-works security rule to extend miners\u2019 protections from silica mud. As an alternative of going into impact on April 14, miners will now have to attend till at the least August earlier than they see higher protections in opposition to sicknesses like black lung.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company cited \u201cunexpected [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] restructuring\u201d and \u201cdifferent technical causes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Traditionally, miners are subjected to quite a few life-threatening security hazards on the job together with pneumoconiosis, which might come from inhaling silica on the job.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhereas we’re appreciative of the chief motion, there are a number of issues which are being pulled again which are going to guard the well being and security of our miners, which is our principal precedence,\u201d Erin Bates, a spokesperson for the United Mine Employees of America labor union, instructed Day by day Kos. \u201cEach single day this rule is delayed is one other day that our nation’s miners are uncovered to silica mud, which results in and has been confirmed to result in quite a few lung illnesses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Not solely is the administration pushing for newbies to leap head first right into a harmful work surroundings, however because of Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration\u2019s vicious firings of federal employees, there are fewer folks to watch miners\u2019 well being.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Two-thirds of NIOSH, a key company defending and monitoring miners\u2019 well being, is <\/span>expected to vanish<\/span><\/a> within the coming weeks. Amongst many different duties, NIOSH runs the Coal Employees’ Well being Surveillance Program, which supplies a sort of free well being care to miners and helps to watch their <\/span>ongoing lung health<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n A NIOSH facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, was among the many hardest hit from these cuts, with the Trump administration shedding <\/span>nearly 200 workers<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In line with MSHA’s spokesperson, Morgantown helped lead respiratory analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n “With out these assets, it’ll be tougher to watch and management the mud ranges in these mines, leaving a excessive danger for Black Lung,” Bates instructed Day by day Kos.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s push for extra coal and power manufacturing could tie into his race in opposition to China concerning synthetic intelligence. Final week, AI trade leaders met earlier than Congress final week to <\/span>beg for more energy<\/span><\/a>, with one former Google CEO saying, \u201cWe’d like power in all varieties. \u2026 Renewable, nonrenewable, no matter. It must be there, and it must be there rapidly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And Trump\u2019s coal-focused government order particularly talked about AI, <\/span>saying<\/span><\/a> that home coal \u201cmight be vital to assembly the rise in electrical energy demand attributable to \u2026 the development of synthetic intelligence information processing facilities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In different phrases, the price of large enterprise is excessive, and it\u2019s doable that the president is making an attempt to spice up large trade\u2014employees\u2019 well being be damned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.dailykos.com\/images\/1411071\/large\/AP25014587542398.jpg?1742504572\" "\\"Former")