The Arizona State Mine Inspector is responsible for overseeing the safety and regulation of active and inactive mines in the state of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is an independent, constitutionally-mandated office, elected to a four-year term. Arizona is the only state which fills this position through direct election. Arizona has 600 working mines and an estimated 120,000 abandoned mines. Owing to a lack of funding, the department employed just two abandoned-mine supervisors as of 2019. Arizona House Representative Randall Friese introduced a bill in 2016 to change the position from elected to appointed. The bill failed to move out of committee. In 2007, former inspector Douglas K. Martin was convicted of a felony conflict of interest from the illegal use of state vehicles and theft.

Former inspectors

*G. H. Bolin, Democrat, 1912–1921 *John F. White, Republican, 1921–1923 *Tom C. Foster, Democrat, 1923–1945 *Clifford J. Murdock, Democrat, 1945–1953 *Edward Massey, Democrat, 1953–1959 *R. V. Hersey, Democrat, 1959–1965 *Verne C. McCutchan, Republican, 1965–1975 *Bert C. Romero, Democrat, 1975–1976 *Verne C. McCutchan, Republican, 1976–1978 *James H. McCutchan, Republican, 1979–1990 *Douglas K. Martin, Republican, 1991–2007 * Joe Hart, Republican, 2007–2021 * Paul Marsh, Republican, 2021–

References

External links

Constitution version 1Official Website
{{Authority control Arizona State Mine Inspector Government of Arizona Mining in Arizona Mining law and governance