Dick Stickler

Mine Health and Safety Administration head Richard Stickler is now at the collapsed Utah mine, talking grimly about the accident and oh, god bless the family, how tragic this event was. And as head of the MHSA, one would think he was pretty qualified to say this:

Stickler said the Crandall mine is in compliance with the federal Mine Health and Safety Act, and had the oxygen and other provisions throughout the mine as required in its emergency plan filed with the agency in June.

Of course, like I pointed out in my last post, there was no shortage of life-threatening violations. But we should trust him, right? After all, he was vetted and approved by the Senate, right?

Coal miners have seen 33 of their colleagues killed on the job this year, and they have watched the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) become a second home for coal industry executives—instead of a strong voice for miner safety.

Today, miners and their families won a major victory when they helped derail the Bush administration’s attempt to salt MSHA with yet another industry insider.

Senate Republican leaders, knowing they didn’t have the votes to win, pulled back a scheduled vote to confirm Richard Stickler, a coal industry executive, as head of MSHA where he would be in charge of mine safety.

During his confirmation hearings in January, Stickler said he believed current mine safety laws were adequate. At the time, 15 miners had been killed in explosions and fires, and since then another 18 have died on the job—the highest number of mine deaths in any full year since 2001.

The nomination drew fierce opposition from safety advocates, the Mine Workers, families of miners killed and others.

Sounds qualified to fill a job that literally overseas life and death matters. Heckuva job, Stickler.