News

Yesterday, Lon Santis, Manager of Technical Services for the IME testified to the need to update MSHA explosives regulations at a hearing of the House Committee on Small Business’ Subcommittee on Regulation, Healthcare, and Trade.  The hearing was called to discuss the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy (SBA) r3 program.  IME’s nomination of the MSHA explosives regulations was among 10 selected by SBA out of 80+ nominations for the r3 initiative.

Mr. Santis provided a written statement to the subcommittee and said in his remarks that “MSHA’s explosives regulations are inconsistent with national consensus standards and other agencies’ regulations.  This exposes miners to undue risk and wastes the resources of mining operators and contractors, the vast majority of whom are small businesses.”  Mr. Santis went on to briefly describe several vulnerabilities and burdens created by MSHA’s outdated regulations.

The subcommittee expressed support for the SBA and recognized that needed reforms like those sought by IME were unlikely to occur without their intervention.  MSHA has recently indicated they are willing to discuss updating the explosives regulations and SBA will broker a meeting between IME and MSHA to open discussions.  In this case, the government really is here to help.

Video of the hearing.