Chao Misses Mine Safety Deadline. Bush Appoints Stickler—Again
by Mike Hall, Jan 7, 2008
AFLCIO.org

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao missed the Dec. 15 deadline to
issue new federal rules for better trained mine rescue teams at the
nation's coal mines. The Charleston Gazette reports:

The rules are still not finalized and are sitting at the White
House, under review by the Office of Management and Budget.

In 2006, spurred by what would become the highest coal mine death
toll since 1996—including the deaths of 19 coal miners at the Sago,
Aracoma and Darby mines in West Virginia and Kentucky—Congress
passed and President Bush signed the MINER Act that mandated several
mine safety improvements, including rescue teams.



The June 2006 mine law gave the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) 18 months to finalize the new rescue rules. It
took the safety agency 15 months to write the proposed rules and now
the Bush administration says it can't provide a timeline for issuing
them.



Our friends at Hillbilly Report point out that:

Elaine Chao is quick to give American workers advice, but slow when
it comes to doing her own job. I suggest we have a skills gap here.

Meanwhile, Bush once again circumvented Congress and reinstated MSHA
administrator Richard Stickler to head the agency. Stickler, a
former coal company executive, twice failed to win Senate
confirmation, but in late 2006, with Congress out of session, Bush
used a recess appointment to install Stickler in the post,
officially known as the assistant labor secretary for mine safety
and health.



The recess appointment expired at the end of 2007. In a somewhat
bizarre chain of events, MSHA removed Stickler's bio from the
agency's website and announced Jan. 3 that Stickler's assistant was
the acting assistant secretary. But his tenure was brief: On Jan. 4,
Bush named Stickler the new acting assistant secretary, a move that
does not require congressional approval and is likely to last until
the end of Bush's term. After press reports that Stickler's bio had
been removed, it's now back online.



Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says:

The appointment of Richard Stickler to be acting assistant secretary
of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, just days after his term in
that position expired because he couldn't be confirmed by the U.S.
Senate, demonstrates the deep level of contempt the Bush
administration holds for the Senate and the constitutional role that
body holds.

The UMWA's position on Mr. Stickler has remained consistent from the
day he was first nominated in 2005. We do not believe someone who
has spent the majority of his working life as a coal company
manager, supervisor and executive ought to be appointed as head of
MSHA