The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration will meet with stakeholders at 9 a.m. ET on June 8 to discuss coal mine fatalities that have occurred this year.

The meeting will be opened by Patricia Silvey, deputy assistant secretary for operations, at the agency's National Health and Safety Academy near Beckley, W.Va. Silvey is the top-ranking official at MSHA since Obama-appointed officials have left after the Trump election and top appointments at the agency remain vacant.

In an e-mail about the event, the government pointed out about one-half of the seven fatalities recorded in the industry so far in 2017 occurred in southern West Virginia.

Eight U.S. coal fatalities were reported by MSHA in 2016. Three of those were in West Virginia throughout 2016 compared to four already this year.

MSHA's gathering will also feature a presentation on the upstream construction of impoundments.