DOGE takes aim at local mine safety office
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The Mine Safety and Health Administration office at Frackville on March 4, 2025.
FRACKVILLE – The heart of the anthracite mining region will be without a federal mine safety office soon, as it is now in the crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency.
The savings to the federal government? Less than the cost of a typical Shenandoah home.
DOGE plans to terminate the Mine Safety and Health Administration lease next to the now-closed Big Lots store at the former Schuylkill Mall complex in New Castle Township. It moved there following the demolition of said mall.
The annual lease cost, DOGE says, is $132,547, though total savings from closing the office, they say, will be $55,228.
It is one of 29 MSHA offices on a list of lease terminations and one of 24 federal leases to be terminated in Pennsylvania. Two other MSHA offices in Pennsylvania — both in the bituminous fields of western Pennsylvania — will also be closed.
MSHA is the federal agency responsible for mine safety. The agency investigates mining deaths and accidents and provides training.
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