Quinn Shuffles Budget to Protect Mine Safety in Illinois

By Kevin Robinson in News on Apr 7, 2010 2:00PM

In light of the devastating mine disaster in West Virginia this week, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will rebalance the state's budget to ensure that mine safety programs remain intact. The governor's proposed spending plan will cut $2 million from grants to promote the the state's coal industry, and use that money to shore up Illinois's mine safety programs. "The Mine Safety program will see no negative impacts," Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud told the Pantagraph. "Illinois is also a coal-producing state and I share with you a tremendous respect for the hard work coal miners perform and their willingness to labor in a dangerous environment," Quinn wrote in a letter to West Virginia governor Joe Manchin, offering condolences for the 25 miners that died there. Phil Gonet, executive director of the Illinois Coal Association, told the Pantagraph that "we're comfortable with what they are proposing."