Christopher Drew and Richard A. Oppel Jr. report that the Bush administration's head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration is giving "enthusiastic backing" to a long-dormant mining industry coal-dust proposal...one that his Utah mining company had first proposed to government when he was its top executive in 1997. They report that safety and environmental rules "often shift with control of the White House," but they describe this case as "a particularly potent example of the blend of politics and policy." White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair, James L. Connaughton describes "mountaintop removal" mining rules relaxation as "all part of the broader effort to sustain coal as a critical part of the nation's energy mix, because it's affordable, it's reliable, and it's domestically secure." Drew and Oppel say Connaughton said the administration is committed to improving environmental safeguards.