Appointment of Richard V. Backley as a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

The President today granted a recess appointment to Richard V. Backley to be a member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Mr. Backley was appointed to the Commission on August 31, 1978, for a term which expired on August 30, 1982. The President intends to nominate Mr. Backley to the Senate upon its return.

Before being appointed as a member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, Mr. Backley was an administrative law judge at the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1975 to 1978. In 1975 he served as administrative law judge, Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration. From 1970 to 1975, Mr. Backley was a senior trial attorney and later Assistant Solicitor with the Division of Mine Safety and Health at the Department of the Interior. Prior to this, from 1967 to 1970, he was an attorney adviser in the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of the Interior. From 1960 to 1967, he was district attorney and chief prosecutor for the Trust Territories of the Pacific.

Mr. Backley earned his B.A. in 1951 and LL.B. in 1955 from DePaul University. He and his wife, Nathalie, have three children and reside in Fairfax, Va. He was born July 21, 1927.