Byrd Reportedly Puts Hold on Stickler Nomination

It's hard to keep up with all the MSHA events, but the Courier-Journal's Jim Carroll is trying. He recently had some notes from the Washington front including the following:

"[Senator Robert]Byrd last week put a hold on the nomination of Richard Stickler as the new head of MSHA. That means the full Senate can't vote on Stickler until Byrd decides otherwise.....

"Until I know that Mr. Stickler will make safety job No. 1 at MSHA, I will not allow his nomination to move forward," Byrd said.

Byrd, a senior senator from the nation's second-largest coal-producing state, has never met Stickler. Byrd said he wanted a meeting with Stickler to discuss his concerns, but nothing happened before the Senate left Thursday for a weeklong break.