August 23, 2007

Lawmakers Ready New Probes After Utah Mining Tragedy

Many Americans may still remember the January 2006 Sago tragedy in West Virginia, particularly wrenching because the media had erroneously reported that the trapped miners were found alive, only to present the country hours later with the somber news that all but one had perished. That saga moved Congress to pass an overhaul of mining safety regulations, which President Bush signed into law the following June.

This week, the apparent deaths of six Utah miners and the confirmed deaths of three rescue workers who tried to find them is once again putting lawmakers in an investigative posture. The Senate Subcommittee on Workplace and Employment Safety has scheduled a Sept. 5 hearing in which it's seeking testimony from Mine Safety and Health Administration head Richard Stickler, mine co-owner Bob Murray and Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers of America. Last week, The Gate looked at Stickler, a former mining exec whom Bush installed through a recess appointment after criticism from a Congress then dominated by Republicans.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports today that Sen. Edward Kennedy, who chairs the Senate committee with oversight of the industry, has requested a trove of documents about the Crandall Canyon mine from the Department of Labor. In a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Kennedy wrote, "I am particularly troubled by reports that roof failures, similar in kind to the August 6 collapse, previously occurred in sections of the mine where retreat mining was being conducted, and that this roof failure may not have been reported to MSHA regulators as required by law."

The mine's co-owner has come under scrutiny for his blustery public behavior, and he is now at the center of a debate over whether to recover the miners' bodies. Families of the trapped men want Murray to keep his word that their loved ones' bodies would be returned to them, but that promise was made before last week's collapse that claimed three rescue workers. Murray has suggested that the bodies may never be recovered, making that section of the mine a burial ground. He's also said that other parts of the mine may be reopened for business, which has infuriated grieving relatives and the community at large.

Anger at Murray is so intense that the families of the trapped men have asked Murray to stop briefing them with updates on the search, the Salt Lake Tribune also reports.

Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
Share via