White House Briefing on Mining Explosion Set for Thursday

Last week, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) asked the White House to lend West Virginia’s lawmakers periodic briefings on the investigation into last week’s deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine south of Charleston. The first of those briefings, Rockefeller just announced, will be this Thursday.

“We must leave no stone unturned in our quest for answers,” he said in a statement.

No word yet on how free the West Virginia delegation plans to be with the information they’re given. And a private briefing for a handful of lawmakers is a far cry from the public investigation that good government groups are already calling for.