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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 19, 1995

      President Clinton Names James C. Riley to Federal Mine Safety
                      and Health Review Commission

President Clinton has announced his intent to nominate James C. Riley to be a commissioner of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

James C. Riley of Virginia has fifteen years of legal, legislative, administrative and governmental experience in the federal, legislative and executive branches. Currently, he is a member of the Wage Appeals Board at the Department of Labor. Prior to joining the Department of Labor, Riley was the chief counsel/staff director of the Subcommittee on Labor Standards, Health and Safety of the House Committee on Education and Labor. He was responsible for providing advice and counsel to the chairman of the Subcommittee and its superior committee on legal, legislative and political issues under the subcommittee's jurisdiction. Riley also served in the Carter Administration as the executive assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of Labor. He earned his B.A. from Loyola College in Montreal, Canada, and his J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) was established by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The act, enforced by the Secretary of Labor through the Mine Safety and Health Administration, governs compliance with occupational health and safety standards in the nation's surface and underground mines, both coal and metal/nonmetal. The FMSHRC is responsible for deciding cases brought pursuant to the act by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, mine operators, miners or their representatives. These cases generally involve review of the Mine Safety and Health Administration's enforcement actions including citations, mine closure orders and proposals for civil penalties issued by violations of the act. The commission also has jurisdiction over discrimination complaints filed by miners and their representatives.