Controversial Mining Office Nominee Cleared for Senate Vote

President Obama’s nominee to oversee the coal industry passed another hurdle in the confirmation process today, despite strong opposition from environmental advocates and coalfield residents who say he is too lenient.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the nomination of Joseph Pizarchik as director of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement on a voice vote.

Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said he had received hundreds of letters of opposition to Pizarchik, but he still voted to forward the nomination to a full Senate vote as a show of support for the U.S. president. At least two committee members, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Robert Mendenez (D-N.J.), opposed the nomination.

Pizarchik has come under fire from environmental groups across the spectrum for his decisions and actions during his seven-year tenure as director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mining and Reclamation. The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition didn't hold back after his nomination was announced:

“This is a direct blow to the heart of all citizens living in the coalfields throughout the United States — and a victory for coal operators.

“Mr. Pizarchik has promoted valley fills burying streams under piles of coal refuse; destructive longwall mining; decreased citizen participation — and formats for public hearings and forums that are restrictive to citizens; decreased transparency and accountability for the decisions of mining officials; the dumping of toxic coal combustion wastes into coal mines, often directly into drinking water supplies, without safeguards; and a bonding program that fails to guarantee reclamation of the land or prevent water pollution from coal mining operations.”

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) points to Pizarchik’s advocacy for minefilling — using surface mines as coal-ash dumps — and to his poor oversight of the process as one of the most serious problems.

A 2007 study for the Clean Air Task Force found that coal ash dumped in 10 of 15 Pennsylvania mines tested was contaminating water supplies with arsenic, lead, cadmium, selenium, and other health hazards. It also criticized the permits issued under Pizarchik’s direction for failing to enforce monitoring or cleanup.

Despite that and other scientific evidence, "He continues to insist, despite volumes of evidence to the contrary, that there is no evidence of degradation to water from coal ash in any Pennsylvania coal mine," EIP Director Eric Schaeffer wrote in August. "After resisting regulation of minefilling for many years, Mr. Pizarchik has recently responded with a proposal that still falls well short of the standards needed to protect groundwater and surface water.”

Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club and Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice underscored the potential impact if Pizarchik is entrusted with national mining oversight:

“One of the prime responsibilities of the OSM Director in 2010 will be the promulgation of a national regulation governing coal ash minefilling. The OSM Director must be willing to promulgate regulations that at minimum fully comply with all recommendations of the National Academies of Science and provide effective protection from this dangerous practice.”

They also worry about Pizarchik's ability to fully implement the Obama administration’s return to a 100-foot stream buffer zone rule for surface mining, intended to protect steams from being polluted and filled with mining debris. In 2001, as assistant director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Regulatory Counsel, where he counseled the mining program, Pizarchik oversaw regulations that weakened the state's stream buffer rules.