SOURCE: OSHA | June 18, 2025
Washington — Wayne Palmer’s nomination to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration has advanced to the full Senate, after a 12-11 party-line vote by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on May 22.
The committee also approved, by party-line vote, the nomination of Marco Rajkovich as a member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
If confirmed, Palmer would succeed Chris Williamson and return to the agency he served during the first Trump administration. Palmer was principal deputy assistant secretary at MSHA from December 2017 to January 2021 and the agency’s acting head until David Zatezalo’s confirmation in November 2017.
Per his LinkedIn page, Palmer was most recently a senior advisor in the Department of Labor Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. He was executive vice president at the Essential Minerals Association from July 2021 until January.
Palmer was nominated on Feb. 11. His LinkedIn bio states that he’s “proudly descended from miners of Pennsylvania anthracite coal, Colorado silver, New Jersey iron ore, and Cornwall (UK) copper and tin.”
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