Bureau Job Losses May Be Overestimated

Job losses from the closure of Spokane’s Bureau of Mines offices may not be as harsh as expected.

Douglas Bolstad, a director for the research side of the Bureau of Mines, said Wednesday that he’ll be able to salvage 70 jobs instead of the 20 or so previously projected when the closure announcement came this summer.

The mine safety functions of the bureau will soon fall under the Department of Energy. Bolstad said he’ll be able to retain 39 of his employees and hire 30 more, though many of those new hires could come from within the Bureau of Mines system.

About 1,200 bureau workers will lose their jobs at the beginning of the year. Bolstad said he’ll receive about $5 million from the Department of Energy, and will use the money to keep as many technical staff as possible.

About 170 people worked at the Bureau of Mines’ two offices in Spokane, and that number has begun to dwindle as the Jan. 8th closure date approaches.

“We’ve lost some world-class people to the private sector,” Bolstad said at the Northwest Mining Association Convention. “We’ll have to try to replace them.”

Many Bureau of Mines employees are using the convention to find new employment.

Convention notes:

The association’s President’s Awards for 1995 went to Ellamae Anderson of Spokane and Kathy Benedetto, owner of Western Resource Associates of Reno, Nev., at an awards banquet Tuesday night. Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski won the Distinguished Service Awards for 1995.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid brought one of the biggest chuckles of the convention at a luncheon Tuesday explaining his delay in joining Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig on the phone at the luncheon. “You’ll be pleased to know that I was on the floor of the Senate beating up on lawyers,” he said. Reid was backing a bill to reform litigation.

, DataTimes