With new mining division comes jobs for Spokane

OLYMPIA – Federal officials are looking to fill as many as 15 positions at Spokane’s mine research laboratory, with the creation of a Western district office to provide worker-safety programs for the region’s mining industry.

The expansion comes nearly two decades after the federal government began stripping away jobs from the Spokane location. The lab at 315 E. Montgomery Ave. will be renamed the Spokane Mining Research Division, and will become regional headquarters for the Western States Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

“This new division will create good jobs here in Spokane and an increased focus on workplace safety across the Western United States,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who pushed Congress to approve the new funding.

The Spokane safety office was part of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and employed nearly 200 workers, serving as a regional service center. In 1996 Congress eliminated the bureau, with the remaining workers assigned to NIOSH, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Federal budget battles caused the number of employees at the Spokane office to drop even further, from 90 in 2002 to fewer than 30 in recent years. NIOSH has added 19 people since 2013, for a current staff of 46.

The other two mine safety divisions run by NIOSH are based in Pittsburgh. As the Spokane office becomes division headquarters, its staff will work with field offices in Denver and Anchorage, Alaska. The staff will coordinate safety programs in mining, oil and gas, farming, fishing and forestry.

Diane Porter, a NIOSH deputy director, said the Spokane office will eventually have 75 full-time federal employees and 10 contract workers. The open positions include mining engineers and technicians, general health advisers and two division directors. Starting salaries range from $35,000 to $132,000 per year.

“Mining is very different in the West than it is on the East,” Porter said, noting that mines in Eastern Washington and North Idaho extract both metals and nonmetals. It’s important to have researchers studying these mines to prevent collapses, she said.

Mayor David Condon was enthusiastic about the economic boost that the expansion could provide: “It’s something that we’ve been working on for several years. It’s great for the city of Spokane.”