by Mike Hall, Sep 7, 2006

President Bush’s Sept. 5 renomination of Richard Stickler to head up the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) shows “the White House apparently has greater concern for politics than mine safety,” says Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Stickler failed to win Senate approval earlier this summer.

The Mine Workers (UMWA) union and other mine safety advocates questioned the former coal industry executive’s commitment to mine safety and his safety record at the coal mines he ran.

The nation’s focus on mine safety intensified this year following the Jan. 2 Sago (W. Va.) mine explosion that killed 12, a deadly fire shortly after at another West Virginia mine that killed two and the deaths of five Kentucky coal miners in another explosion. So far this year, 37 coal miners have been killed on the job, more than in any full year since 2001.

UMWA President Cecil Roberts says Stickler’s entire career:

has encouraged production over safety. By renominating Richard Stickler…President Bush has ignored the will of the U.S. Senate and added insult to injury to coal miners and their families.

Byrd, who, along with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), leads the Senate fight this spring to block the appointment, says:

I was at the White House and heard the Sago families tell President Bush about their opposition to the Stickler nomination. These families know, better than most, how critical good leadership is at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. But, apparently, the White House wasn’t listening. They must have heads harder than miner hats.

Unable to win Senate confirmation, the Bush administration quietly hired Stickler as a consultant to MSHA in June. When news reports uncovered the backdoor hiring, it was expected that when Congress adjourned for the summer, Bush might use a recess appointment to install Stickler, as he did with Paul DeCamp—a lawyer who represented Wal-Mart at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Kennedy says:

It’s appalling that the president would renominate Richard Stickler for this critical mine safety position in the face of intense opposition from miners and their families. Throughout his career, Mr.Stickler has focused on profits, not worker safety. The president should have used the recess to send the Senate a nominee who will give America’s miners the protection they deserve.

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