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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The only Utah official in charge of coal mine safety has left his job, and his superiors said Wednesday that they can't afford to replace him.
Garth Nielsen was the one-man Utah Office of Coal Mine Safety, a watchdog role created after the deadly 2007 cave-ins at a Utah coal mine. He didn't have enforcement powers but he was a clearinghouse for complaints about safety at Utah coal mines.
Utah Labor Commissioner Sherrie Hayashi said that Nielsen's supervisor will handle a mine-safety hot line. Peter Hackford heads up elevator, boiler and coal mine safety for the Utah Labor Commission.
"We have not closed the office. We're just not filling the position. We're still carrying out the policy mandate. It's a staffing issue, not a change in policy direction," Hayashi told The Associated Press.
Hayashi said her agency has taken multiple budget cuts over the past year and a half and doesn't have the money to fill the spot. Nielsen earned $69,760 in salary and his job benefits cost the Labor Commission another $30,811, she said.
Nielsen left his job on March 4 to take the position of general manager for a coal-transfer terminal near Price, where he works for Savage Coal Terminal.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
