Call today to help put the OSM in capable hands
Apr 15th, 2009 by admin
Reports suggest that the Obama Administration may soon appoint the new director of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining – the agency created to enforce the nation’s surface mining laws. Please help convince the president and his staff to appoint a capable individual who is not from the coal industry or inside OSM.
For decades, residents of the coalfields have struggled to get the Office of Surface Mining to fully and fairly enforce the surface mining laws. OSM is a broken agency that has often been run by coal industry insiders, and OSM leadership has frequently been complicit in the lack of enforcement of mining laws, the weakening of mining rules, and the streamlining of mountaintop removal permitting.
Message: I urge the administration to nominate a new director of the Office of Surface Mining who is not from the coal industry or OSM. We desperately need someone who will fix this troubled agency and see that the surface mining laws are fully and fairly enforced.
Please call Secretary Salazar as soon as you get the chance. The nominee could be named any day.
Phone: 202-208-3100
E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Thanks for taking action!
Background
Ken Ward, a reporter for the Charleston Gazette has written extensively about OSM and the appointment of a new director. Here are links to some of his news stories and blog posts.
From a March 28 Courier-Journal editorial:
“Mr. Childers has a distinguished 30-year record of advocacy on behalf of coalfield citizens who have been abused and exploited by the mining industry. He helped lead the legal team that fought the broad form deed, and forced mining interests to pay their fair share of property taxes in coalfield counties. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of coalfield residents whose water has been destroyed by mining, and has worked to limit the damage of blasting on surrounding properties. He knows these issues literally from the ground up.”Read the entire editorial here.
Similar views were expressed by the Lexington Herald-Leader on April 7, which you can read here.
