State's newspapers opine on OSM appointment

Kentucky's two leading daily newspaper have editorialized about the need for a strong director for the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, an appointment that the Obama administration is expected to make any day.

In recent years, OSM has been one the of non-enforcers of laws meant to protect people, their homes, water and the land. Coalfield residents are looking for that to change with the new administration. The agency has been under attack since the Ronald Reagan presidency, which made severe cuts in its enforcement budget.

Both The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader expressed hope that Joe Childers of Lexington would be the pick as the new OSM director. Childers, an attorney from Pikeville now practicing in Lexington, was a founding member of KFTC and our legal counsel for many years. The KFTC Steering Committee has endorsed his nomination.

From The 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."

The Lexington Herald-Leader editorial made similar points, also noting the cozy relationship OSM has had with the coal industry over the years. The appointment of an OSM insider would tarnish any claim that there will be a turnaround at the agency.