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Crandall Canyon Mine Hearings

September 6th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

In the wake of the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster, a number of people – including the head of the nation’s largest mineworkers union—are pointing fingers at mine co-owner Robert Murray. Murray has declined invitations to appear before the Senate subcommittee investigating the accident, without a subpoena.

Testifying on Wednesday, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, told the subcommittee members that the tragedy had its roots in June when the MSHA approved a risky process called retreat mining at the Emory County, Utah location. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies is the first to probe the tragedy.

“Make no mistake about it, this disaster was not an act of God, but an act of man,” Roberts said in a written statement released in advance. “It was preventable.”

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Murray changed the mining plan when he purchased Crandall Canyon in August 2006. Robert Murray is owner of Murray Energy Corp, which co-owns the mine.

Murray has repeatedly said that the miner’s lives were in the “Lord’s hands” and that the collapse was triggered by an earthquake – a claim that areas seismologists dispute. Murray has also made repeated references to the “evil mountain.” Murray initially told Senators that he was too busy to testify. Now, he insists that he is too ill to appear. Senator Arlan Specter has threatened to subpoena Murray.

Meanwhile, as Roberts testified before the Senate subcommittee and Murray went about his business in Utah, the MSHA special investigative committee began its review of the accident.

So far, a number of agencies have announced probes into the accident including:

MSHA’s special investigation team
Three separate Congressional subcommittees
An independent Department of Labor team of mining experts to assess the MSHA efforts
A special Commission appointed by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman
The Inspector General’s Office of the Labor Department

Bruce Watzman, Vice President of the National Mining Association, says that the industry as a whole – meaning mine operators — wants to return to the pre-2005 record of steadily declining rates in accidents and serious injuries, with far fewer fatalities.

“Fatalities are tragic,” according to Luke Popovich, a NMA spokesperson. “But failing to learn from them, and failing to act on what we learn, would be inexcusable.”

Watzman points out that the mine owners supported last year’s MINER Act to increase regulation of the industry and impose stricter fines on mine owners who violated safety regulations. The act was heralded as the “biggest breakthrough in miner safety in 30 years.”

The MINER Act was passed in response to tragic mining accidents in 2006 in West Virginia and Kentucky that resulted in the death of 13 miners. Now, its role in the safety failure at Crandall Canyon is being assessed.

Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, questions why there is not technology to track underground miners, and to communicate with them in an emergency. Harkin decries the fact that the miners could not be located through 7 different boreholes drilled into the mountain. “We owe it to our mining families to do everything in our power to et this done right and make sure every miner returns home safely at the end of their work day,” Harkin said in a prepared statement.

One of the most controversial decisions discussed in the subcommittee hearings was the decision to allow news media and family members into the mine during rescue operations. Some are also questioning the decision to let Richard Stickler, the head of MSHA, spearhead the rescue efforts onsite, rather than relying on Kevin Stricklin, head of MSHA’s Coal Mine Safety division. Critics point out that it is imple for Strickler to objectively assess the effectiveness of MSHA efforts at Crandall Canyon, when he was personally involved.