Number Twelve brings on Brian Matlock, who is running for Arizona State Mine Inspector. Most voters do not know this is an elected office. Brian did not either until he became a Pinal County precinct committee person and got asked to look into it.

Arizona is the only state with an elected mine inspector, written into the state constitution in 1912. Brian explains why that independence matters. The office answers to voters and the legislature, not to a governor who can simply remove someone for asking hard questions.

Brian is a mechanical engineer who spent his career in design, manufacturing, and inspection roles, including work with dragline chain used in strip mining and later hard rock mining wear products. He talks through his path from Tennessee to Oregon to Arizona, and how a foundry job making chipper discs led him into the mining industry.

The conversation covers what he found when he started digging into the state office's public reporting. He compares it to what the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration publishes and explains why the gap concerned him enough to run.

Other topics include in-situ copper mining at Florence Copper, the Oak Flat mining method and how it compares to open pit mines, abandoned mines across Arizona including uranium sites on tribal land, and ideas for community-based abandoned mine surveys. Brian also talks about the fifty-year run of Democrats not holding this office, the current appointed opponent, and why he believes safety oversight should not be a partisan issue.

Listen to the full conversation for the details on mine safety data, the history of the office, and Brian's plans for community outreach and abandoned mine cleanup.

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