Contractors Claim Administration Pressed to 'Soften' Job-Loss Estimates From Mining Rule

Fox ^ | 11-18-11 | Judson Berger

[tcrlaf]

The Obama administration pressured analysts to change an environmental review to reflect fewer job losses from a proposed regulation, the contractors who worked on the review testified Friday.

The dispute revolves around proposed changes to a rule regulating coal mining near streams and other waterways. The experts contracted to analyze the impact of the rule initially found that it would cost 7,000 coal jobs.

But the contractors claim they were subsequently pressured to not only keep the findings under wraps but "revisit" the study in order to show less of an impact on jobs.

Steve Gardner, president of Kentucky consulting firm ECSI, claimed that after the project team refused to "soften" the numbers, the firms working on the study were told the contract would not be renewed. ECSI was a subcontractor on the project.

The government "'suggested' that the ... members revisit the production impacts and associated job loss numbers, with different assumptions that obviously would then lead to a lesser impact," Gardner testified before a House Natural Resources subcommittee."The ... team unanimously refused to use a 'fabricated' baseline scenario to soften the production loss numbers."

[tcrlaf]

Just more lies from the Obama Administration.

ANYONE in the United Mine Workers who voted for Obama in 2008 committed ECONOMIC SUICIDE.

[brownsfan]

I hope our neighbors to the south, West Virginia, are enjoying their Hope and Change.

They definitely got exactly the change Obama promised. Too bad they weren’t listening.

[Qbert]

“Right now, there’s a tremendous amount of smoke. And where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire,” Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, told FoxNews.com ahead of the hearing Friday.”

Yep.

[Terry Mross]

Idiots voted for obama. There are still way too many idiots who will be voting next time.

[Pollster1]

The Obama Regime is precisely as corrupt as we all suspected, and this is one more element of proof. MSNBC is, of course, ignoring this and instead covering the death (three decades ago) of Natalie Wood.

[apillar]

Pwwth! 7,000 that's chump change. He just killed 200,000 in Ohio today by refusing to issue rules on fracture mining and he killed 400,000 last week by delaying the Canadian Pipeline. When Obama said he was going to focus on jobs like a laser, we didn't know he meant he was going to disintegrate them.

[RedMDer]

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[Buckeye McFrog]

one of the lasting legacies of the Obama Administration will be that from this time forward, no one will any longer have the slightest bit of confidence in ANY economic numbers released by the Federal Government.

[Russ]

Not only MSNBC will ignore this story but so will CNN, CBS, ABC, PBS and NBC. In other words, nothing to see here, folks, move on...

[circlecity]

This pretty much confirms everyone’s fears that you can’t trust any of the economic numbers coming out of this administration.

[ballplayer]

They are not all idiots,they are Union thugs who have received Billions from Obama and they dont want it to end.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]