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Good afternoon, West Virginia Blue readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
Some of the Hill news that's fit to blog is over the fold...
The town of Scofield had a gala celebration planned commencing at noon with fireworks and speeches, bands and music, and all manner of small-town revelry. Even the miners would be joining the crowd, as the mine was working only a half-shift that day, and shutting down at noon for the celebration. When townspeople heard a muffled, percussive "thump" about 10:30 am, most assumed it was just an ambitious celebrant getting a jump on the festivities with some early fireworks. Before long, though, word spread through the town. There had been an explosion at the mine.
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For those in mining the hearing Tuesday 10:00 AM, February 23, 2010, by House Education and Labor is of interest.
As the result of stepped-up enforcement and tougher penalties after a spate of mine tragedies in 2005 and 2006, mine owners tripled the number of violations they appeal and are now litigating 67 percent of all penalties. The backlog of cases FMSHRC must review has jumped from 2,100 in 2006 to approximately 16,000 today.
Well, Jay Rock worked for a while during the markup on Senate Finance, but now we are back to old Rocky IV who lost to Arch Moore in 1972.
At a time when so many people are hurting, we need to put the decisions about our energy future in to the hands of the people and their elected representatives-especially on issues impacting clean coal. EPA actions in this area would have enormous implications and these issues need to be handled carefully and appropriately dealt with by the Congress, not in isolation by a federal environmental agency.
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So know I am going to pimp dansp diary here on going from one type of problem to another.
The theory on how to best protect the public from private sector wrongdoing consists basically of regulation. From the Federal Reserve Act nearly a century ago to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during the Depression to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, we have largely trusted that a federal authority could effectively monitor, and if necessary punish, businesses.
And his post has generated some feed back from one of those quoted.
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