Citizens oppose Obama’s latest favorite for OSM(RE)
A citizens’ group from Pennsylvania is criticizing President Barack Obama’s reported plan to pick a regulator from their state to be director of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.
The Mountain Watershed Association is circulating a letter opposing the potential nomination of Joseph Pizarchik, director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
According to the association, a group active in Westemoreland and Fayette counties in Western Pennsylvania:
We do not believe this is a good choice as several environmentally dangerous policies have been expanded under his watch. One of these is the practice of burying power plant waste in unlined pits, sometimes in old mines, creating contamination in groundwater.
Pizarchik has been with the PADEP since 1991. Before that, he worked for the state’s Department of Transportation. He’s a Penn State graduate and holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The citizen group also said:
We need a consensus builder and someone who thinks outside of the box to help solve this nation’s energy challenges, not someone who totes the company line regardless of the impacts. Now, it is obvious from the TN debacle that disposing of this waste under the guise of beneficial use or as an innocuous substance is a dangerous and ill-considered practice.Â
We need new thinking in OSM like Joe Childers or Pat McGinley, not the same old thinking in a different body. Please do not advocate for this nomination.
Word is that the Obama administration has focused on Pizarchik as their choice for the Interior Department post, having decided not to go for either West Virginia University law professor Pat McGinley or Kentucky lawyer Joe Childress.
The last public word from the White House or the Interior Department about the OSMRE job came in late April, when Interior staffers claimed the administration had “cast a very wide net” for OSMRE candidates. Those comments came after various citizen groups, along with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, criticized Obama for offering the job to Glenda Owens, a longtime Interior Department employee whose background — reported in detail in Coal Tattoo — didn’t exactly show she was all that interested in cracking down on coal industry abuses.
After tossing aside two very qualified candidates — either of whom would have had the support of coalfield citizen groups (and one of whom, Childers, was being pushed by Congressman Nick Rahall), the Obama folks apparently went shopping for someone from a state strip-mine regulatory agency to fill the OSMRE job.
That sort of a pick might give them the support of states. Other state regulatory agency chiefs would likely back such a pick, and that in turn would give political support from coal state governors.
But how does picking someone from a state agency mesh with one of the Obama administration’s announced goals for dealing with mountaintop removal:
Reevaluate and determine how the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement OSM) will more effectively conduct oversight of state permitting, state enforcement, and regulatory activities under SMCRA.
Unless, of course, by more effectively the Obama folks mean hands off …
13 comments
I don’t get it.
Because one “group” writes a half-page letter the guy gets trashed by you — shame, shame.
(I did not find anyone trashing him online — or praising him.)
Joseph G. Pizarchik, Esq.
http://2008.treatminewater.com/Presentations.html#142
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Pizarchik_Joseph_245458897.aspx
—
DEP EMPLOYEES HELP CLEAR THE PATH
FOR FLIGHT 93 MEMORIAL
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/lib/news/2008_fall_incommon.pdf (6 pages)
(Excerpt from page 4; includes a photo)
Joseph Pizarchik and Mike Sokolow from DEP developed a solution and helped negotiate the sale of the land from PBS Coal to the Families of Flight 93, as well as the establishment of a trust to run the treatment system in perpetuity.
I hardly think that the blog post — or the letter, for that matter — “trashed” anyone.
The organization simply expressed its view that Mr. Pizarchik isn’t the right person for the job, and I simply reported on their view.
You’re welcome to your
I hardly think that the blog post — or the letter, for that matter — “trashed” anyone.
The organization simply expressed its view that Mr. Pizarchik isn’t the right person for the job, and I simply reported on their view.
You’re welcome to your view, and this group is welcome to theirs.
Ken.
I know Joe Pizarchik - he is smart and deliberative and knows mining and reclamation like few others.
I know the Mountain Watershed Association. They would complain if Jesus was nominated.
I’ll vote for Joe P on this one.
I personally know members of the Mountain Watershed Association and they are very responsible citizens that are working to preserve clean water for residents and citizens.
I know very little about the nominee, but I intend to find out.
PADEP has earned itself a reputation for rubber-stamping mining permits without peforming any sort of due diligence on the collateral damage said permit will cause. I live in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Remember us? Our tax dollars must rebuild I-79 every time it is damaged by a longwall panel. Longwall coal mining has dried up streams, well, springs, and an entire lake, which have never been successfully restored. Longwall coal mining has put taxpayers out of their homes and damaged the health of some of our most vulnerable citizens…the elderly…who lack the resources to fight corporate coal interests. So forgive our cynicism.
Oh, and I’m a coal miner’s kid, not some big-city enviro. My dad went to work in the mines at age 12 and retired at age 65 as a foreman for J&L Steel’s coal division. The company declared bankruptcy rather than accept resonsibility for its retirees or the environmental damage it left behind.
I live in a small town called Bobtown. Coal mining killed our section of Dunkard Creek. I trust PADEP about as far as I can throw it.
Mountain Watershed Association has worked for years to improve the water quality in thier community. They work with and praise the regulatory agencies when the agency does something right and when the agency does something wrong, then they speak out on that also. In other words, they are fair and speak the truth. If they say that this is not a good choice, then I believe them.
The Obama Administration needs to listen to the voices of the people who daily will have to live with decisions that the OSM director makes.
The Mountain Watershed Association is not alone in expressing concerns over the potential appointment, and the approach that the current Administration has taken to selecting a new Director to manage an understaffed, underfunded, and troubled agency. PADEP’s policy position concerning the backhauling and disposal of coal combustion wastes is a legitimate matter of concern to many of us who are familiar with the issue. OSM’s draft rule failed to incorporate the protections recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, and we look to the new Director to work with EPA to improve the management of CCW and constrain the disposal of CCW in unlined mine pits and minefill. Expressing concern over a potential appointee related to his agency’s position on minefilling of CCW, when he has been active in development and defense of that policy, is hardly tantamount to “trashing” him. This isn’t about any one person or who is a “good guy” or “bad guy” - it is, or should be, at least, about whether the appointee would be the best person to restore Congress’ promises to the people of the nation’s coalfields, which have been honored in the breach over the past 28 years.
Thank you, Ken, for providing a forum for discussion and expression of views on this important appointment.
Fitz
Personally, I think Pat McGinley would be a great Director.
He not only has the education, experience, and expertise.
He has a history of working within the system to see the laws be faithfully executed.
He has been to the areas affected and knows first-hand what the people are having to contend with.
And his heart is with those who have had to pay the price for the deleterious and callous attitude which permeates the agencies charged with protecting the public interest.
I agree with Tom Fitszgerald that the best person must be appointed by the Obama admin. I also strogly believe that the best person must come from outside the agency and includes those who are are employed by any state agency. OSM must have new, fresh, dynamic, aggressive, and knowledgeable leadership in order to make this dormant agency fulfil its legal resposibilities and Congress’ 28 year old promises to coalfield citizens. Retreads whether they be from the state’s or the feds are not what is needed to infuse the long needed energy lacking for too many years at OSM.
I believe taking waste for beneficial reuse in filling mine pits in Pennsylvania is one reason not to support Pizarchik. This almost included taking waste from the Kingston TVA spill to Hazleton, PA without even warning the residents.
I do not see any evidence that links Joseph Pizarchik to the problems others have had with PADEP. If there is a clear link, it should be put out there not insinuated without proof. I may be foolish not to hide behind a screen name, but here is why I think President Obama’s choice should be confirmed. And, knowing him as I do, I am certain he will listen and consider each and every concern that you raise.
Calling Joe Pizarchik a “coal miner operator insider†is an insult to every family who has had someone working in a mine to support them. Joe is not involved in mine safety and environmental issues pertaining to mines because it was an easy career path or for personal gain. He grew up on a farm with members of his family working in the mines. He knows the importance of mine safety first hand.
Joe is an avid outdoorsman. We disagree about hunting (I hate guns), but we agree that stewardship of the land is critical and that being responsible about our use of what is given to us on this Earth. He uses what he hunts and not for hanging on his wall.
At family gatherings, Joe and I are often off in the corner, isolated as the lawyers in the family. I always enjoy these conversations. I talk about my work in civil rights, disabilities and education law and domestic violence. Joe talks about his passion for environmental projects. Yes, it is true that Joe is married to my sister, but I think we would have eventually met and become friends anyway.
Shortly after he helped the Families of Flight 93 establish a system to prevent the remains of their loved ones from being contaminated by water from abandoned mines, http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/lib/news/2008_fall_incommon.pdf Joe told me of the incredible danger posed to the streams and rivers of Pennsylvania by water collected in abandoned mines. Since that time he has worked tirelessly to devise a solution to the problem that is workable.
Since he lacks a magic wand to clear out this drainage, he has to work with government agencies (and this was during the Bush administration) as well as mine owners and operators to restrict and eventually remove this serious threat to our streams and rivers. If he is able to make every stakeholder invested and accountable, how does that make him a bad candidate to do this on a national level, given his successful and experience in working on a state level?
In short, there is no proof linking Joe Pizarchik to any of these allegations – so why not let the President have his nominee, who he sees as a “pragmatic innovatorâ€, give us a shot at real environmental change we can believe in?
[…] Mountain Watershed Association sent a letter in June questioning his selection for the post. “We do not believe this is a good choice as several […]
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