Mine Workers Want Answers: What’s Bush’s Backdoor Move About?

by Mike Hall, Jul 14, 2006

Last week we told you that President George W. Bush opened the back door of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for Richard Stickler after the U.S. Senate refused to confirm the former coal industry insider as head of the safety agency. Stickler was hired July 7 as a “consultant” to advise MSHA on mine safety issues.

Now the Mine Workers (UMWA) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) are demanding answers. They want to know what Stickler, a former coal industry executive whose track record on mine safety came under fire, is really doing at MSHA. Is he just an adviser or is he running the agency in defiance of the Senate?

UMWA President Cecil Roberts said if Stickler:

is involved in directing or developing policy at MSHA through this consulting role, then there is a serious problem. He has not been confirmed by the Senate and is not likely to be. He has no business being involved in critical decision-making at the agency.

The UMWA has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to find out exactly what the Bush administration and Stickler are up to at MSHA.

In a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao about Stickler’s hiring, Sen. Byrd wrote:

I want to be sure that Mr. Stickler is serving as an advisor only, and is not assuming any of the duties or functions of the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. I take the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent role very seriously. To hire an individual as a consultant because the Senate has not yet confirmed his nomination creates the unsettling impression that the Department is trying to circumvent the confirmation process.

Byrd, along with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), led the fight against Stickler’s nomination questioning his track record on mine safety as a coal company executive and his commitment to safety.

During his confirmation hearings, Stickler said he believed the then-current mine safety laws were adequate and did not need strengthening. Following the deaths of 33 coal miners this spring—the highest number killed on the job in any full year since 2001—Congress passed legislation to strengthen and improve mine safety.

In fact, the injury rates at coal mines Stickler managed from 1989 to 1996 were double the national average, according to statistics assembled by the UMWA before Stickler’s appointment to head the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety.

In a letter accompanying the FOIA request, Roberts wrote:

I am particularly interested in documents setting forth the terms of his appointment including its duration, his financial compensation and benefits, his job description, who he reports to and who reports to him. Additionally, I would like a copy of any calendar or other records showing his schedule of appointments, his expenditures, and any authority to incur expenditures on behalf of MSHA or the DOL.

Media reports have indicated that  MSHA personnel are shuttling between MSHA offices in Arlington, Va., and the DOL’s Washington offices to meet with Stickler on a daily basis.

If and when Byrd and the UMWA get a response, we will let you know.

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