mining engineer who has devoted his life to the safety of miners. He was head of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy (MSHA), a branch of the Department of Labor, which trains mining inspectors. He’s been working in federal regulatory agencies for almost 30 years. He was threatened with losing his job at MSHA after blowing the whistle on what he called a whitewash by the Bush administration of an investigation into a major coal slurry spill in 2000.