Obama picks former UMW official for mine-safety chief, Pa. regulator for Office of Surface Mining

President Obama said today he plans to nominate the United Mine Workers' former health-and-safety director to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration and Pennsylvania's chief mine regulator to head the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The appointments are likely the most important personnel actions Obama will take in regard to coal mining, and are of particular interest in the Appalachian coalfield.

Joe Main, left, is a familiar figure in the coalfields. Now a private mine-safety consultant, he ran the UMW's health-and safety department from 1982 to 2004. The White House press release says he "is internationally recognized as an expert in mining health issues." If confirmed by the Senate, he would be assistant secretary for mine safety and health in the Labor Department.

The strip-mine office is in the Interior Department. Its new boss would be Joseph G. Pizarchik, who has been director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mining and Reclamation since 2002 and with the state Department of Environmental Protection since 1991. The release calls him "a pragmatic innovator." In choosing Pizarchick, Obama and/or Interior Secretary Ken Salazar avoided candidates proposed by environmentalists in the major strip-mining states of Kentucky and West Virginia, where Obama was not competitive in the November election, and the proposed choice of acting director Glenda Owens, who drew fire from the environmental community.

UPDATE, July 7: Mine-safety advocates were jubilant about Main's appointment, but coal-industry leaders were noncommittal or even skeptical. National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich told Jim Carroll for a front-page story in The Courier-Journal of Louisville that Main is "certainly knowledgeable and experienced and that can only help all of us continue the mine safety progress we've made over the past couple of years," but Bill Caylor of the Kentucky Coal Association told John Stamper of the Lexington Herald-Leader, "It's going to be frustrating having somebody with an agenda that is pro-union." No UMW members mine coal in Eastern Kentucky, though some do work at one preparation plant there, and some UMW miners work in the state's other coalfield, part of the Illinois Basin. (Read more)