"Enviros Blast Obama's Choice for Office of Surface Mining"

"Environmental groups are speaking out against the man President Barack Obama has chosen to run the Office of Surface Mining, which has jurisdiction over mountaintop removal coal mining.

President Obama selected Joseph Pizarchik, a long-time Pennsylvania mining regulator to head the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, and Enforcement.

In the view of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER, that was a mistake.

'It is appointments like this that are causing many to become disillusioned with the Obama presidency,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting an Obama campaign promise to curb mountaintop removals from which his administration has backed away, approving scores of permits for mountaintop mining."

Environment News Service had the story September 2, 2009.