Wayne Palmer was nominated by President Trump to serve as assistant secretary of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) at the Department of Labor. He is the former executive vice president of the Essential Minerals Association (EMA).
“Wayne has not only been a terrific asset to the EMA team since he joined the association in 2021, but he has also been an invaluable resource for our members as well,” said Chris Greissing, EMA president. “I could not be more thrilled for Wayne to have this opportunity, and I’m happy to know that the administration is gaining a person of such strong character who also has the depth of knowledge and understanding to bring to this position of protecting our industry’s workforce. Congratulations to our friend and colleague, Wayne Palmer, on this amazing opportunity.”
Prior to joining EMA, Palmer served in the first Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary at MSHA where he worked to implement programs and initiatives to provide a safe and healthy workplace for the 300,000 miners working across the nation’s 13,000 mines.
During Palmer’s tenure at EMA, he led the safety and health committee and helped lead EMA’s expansion by leading the Battery and Green Energy Minerals (BGEM) section to represent the interests of minerals used for those purposes.
Furthermore, Palmer assembled a coalition of more than 50 universities and associations to support the Mining Schools Act, bipartisan legislation to provide grants for post-secondary programs in mining engineering, geological engineering, metallurgical engineering and geology.