WASHINGTON - July 20 - The Sierra Club today sent the following letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee opposing the confirmation of John Correll as Director of the Office of Surface Mining. Reporters can call Sierra Club staffer Bill Price in Charleston, WV at 304-389-8822 for additional information.

Senator Pete Domenici, Chair, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Senator Jeff Bingaman, Ranking Democrat Member, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee 364 Dirksen Senate Building Washington, DC 20510

July 20, 2006

Dear Chairman Domenici and Senator Bingaman,

This letter is to express the opposition of the Sierra Club to the nomination of John Correll as Director of the Office of Surface Mining. The Sierra Club strongly opposes this nomination for the following reasons.

1. Mr. Correll was involved in the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) review on the Martin County Kentucky sludge spill in October 2000. The Environmental Protection Agency called this spill the worse environmental disaster in the Eastern United States. The spill discharged over 300 million gallons of coal slurry and polluted 100 miles of streams in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. MSHA had prior knowledge of the lack of safety of the impoundment and did nothing. The investigation should have exposed the lack of MSHA oversight and the companies responsibility for the disaster, but instead turned into a whitewash of the incident. A member of the investigation team who refused to sign the final report was put on administrative leave. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, Mr. Correll bears responsibility for both the cover-up and the retaliation.

2. During Mr. Correll's tenure as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health the total number of federal mine inspectors was reduced by 217. This resulted in far fewer inspections in both coal mines and metal and non-metal mines nationwide. MSHA has not been able to meet the mandated number of inspections per year (4 for every underground mine and 2 for every surface mine). The result has been a record number of fatalities in the nation's mines during the first six months of 2006.

3. Mr. Correll was instrumental in shelving 17 new mine health and safety rules that had been proposed by the previous administration. One of those rules would have improved requirements for flame resistance in materials used in mine conveyor belts. Arguably, had the rule been in effect, the fire at the Aracoma Mine in Logan County, W. Va. would not have occurred. The fire in February 2006 resulted in two fatalities.

4. Mr. Correll supported a drastic rule change in 2004 that allowed intake air to be brought into underground mines through conveyor belt entries. This rule change greatly increased the probability that miners would be trapped in-by mine fires in belt entries. That is exactly what happened at both the Sago Mine disaster and the Aracoma mine fire. The use of belt entries for intake air had been forbidden by MSHA rules since the early 1970s.

5. Mr. Correll was the CEO for an organization called the International Mine Safety Professionals. One of his associates was Ben Shepherd. Ben Shepherd got an illegal sole source contract from MSHA to conduct training for MSHA supervisors. Shepherd charged the agency $1025/ student. He shared the profits with the International Mine Safety Professionals. The agency issued 180 individual contracts to avoid detection for violating federal procurement rules. The scam was publicly exposed. The Office of Inspector General investigated and concluded that the contracts were illegal. Correll continued as CEO for the International Society for months after coming to work for MSHA in violation of federal law. This entire incident was reported by "60 Minutes" on April 4th, 2004

It is obvious from the above incidents that Mr. Correll is not a good choice to lead the Office of Surface Mining. The OSM is a key regulatory agency on surface mining and is vital to the safety and health of communities throughout the United States. Mr. Correll's past actions show a pattern of disregarding the essential safeguards that protect the health, safety and very lives of people. His actions have resulted in weakening and in some cases dismantling those fundamental protections. His actions while in the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary have raised concerns about his ethical standards and cause us to believe that he cannot be trusted to fill the vital role of Director of the Office of Surface Mining in a way that guards the people of this Country.

For these reasons we ask that the Senate Energy Committee on Energy and Natural Resources oppose this nomination. Please enter this letter as part of the formal record of the hearing.

Sincerely,

Carl Pope
Executive Director
Sierra Club

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