In weird sort of Zen meditation on the nature of oversight, the Department of Education overlooks a stark conflict of interest by selecting the company which implemented a billion-dollar reading program to evaluate the very program that it implemented. And the company in question has been criticized by the Ed. Dept.'s inspector general for failing to avoid conflict of interest problems when it originally implemented the program.

The Charleston Gazette (WV) reports on a Congressional hearing that spotlighted state efforts to improve mine safety and proved the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is stuck in the dark. As OMB Watch has reported, there has been little progress in federal mine safety regulation since the tragedies of Sago and Darby in 2006. This hearing shows how states are forced to pick up the slack. West Virginia legislated tougher mine construction standards and Kentucky has beefed up mine inspections. Widows of killed mine workers urged the House Education and Labor Committee to ensure greater mine safety at the federal level. Congress attempted to do just that in the wake of Sago and Darby. The MINER Act, signed into law in June 2006, should have already improved working conditions for our nation's miners. Unfortunately, MSHA has been negligent in enforcing the law. During the testimony, United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts said, "I am sorry to report that MSHA's effort over the past year would do little to change matters today if a mine were to experience an explosion."

According to BNA ($), Former Minerals Management Service auditor Bobby L. Maxwell testified in Congress yesterday that the Interior Department tried to prevent him from collecting unpaid royalties from oil company Kerr-McGee Corp. He was told that pursuing the case would make MMS director Johnnie Burton "unhappy," and was subsequently fire from his job after filing a lawsuit under the False Claims Act.