CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The Obama administration nominated
officials Monday to head two key agencies that oversee the health
and safety of the nation's 392,000 miners and environmental issues
at thousands of surface mines across the country.
The choice of former United Mine Workers union official Joe Main
to head the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration raised
little concern. But environmental groups criticized Obama's pick
for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
Pennsylvania state official Joseph Pizarchik.
Groups that oppose Appalachian surface mining, saying it ravages
the environment, have questioned Obama's commitment to protecting
the region called Pizarchik a coal industry insider.
"We certainly don't see him as a very strong candidate," said
Janet Fout, executive director of the Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition. "The state agencies haven't been doing their jobs."
Pizarchik currently heads Pennsylvania's Bureau of Mining and
Reclamation. At OSM, Pizarchik would head an agency that has long
been criticized by environmental groups for its perceived failure
to enforce laws designed to protect the environment.
The Sierra Club offered a cautious assessment, saying only that
it urges Main and Pizarchik to make strong enforcement their top
priority.
"That would be a welcome change of pace after the mine
accidents, environmental devastation, and lax oversight that marked
the past eight years," Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the
Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, said in an e-mail.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar praised Pizarchik.
"Joe Pizarchik brings a lifetime of experience and dedicated
public service to ensuring mines are operated safely and in an
environmentally sound manner," Salazar said in a statement. "His
expertise and record of innovation will ensure the coal production
that is so necessary to meet our nation's energy needs is conducted
in a way that respects the land and protects the environment."
The National Mining Association declined to comment on him, but
spokesman Luke Popovich called Main experienced and knowledgeable.
"We'll need both as we work with MSHA to sustain the progress
we've made in the past two years," he said in an e-mail.
Main spent 22 years heading the UMW's Occupational Health and
Safety Department before retiring and the union's current
president, Cecil Roberts praised, the choice.
"Joe is perhaps the most knowledgeable person about mine safety
and health in the nation, and his experience was gained where it
counts the most - fighting every day for over 30 years on behalf of
miners' health and safety," Roberts said.