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Alex Cabrero Reporting"I was thinking jeez, that's one heck of a Christmas present."
More than 100 Eastern Utah coal miners have been laid off just a couple of weeks before the holidays. The company says workers were laid off for safety reasons, but the workers are not so sure.
The CEO of UtahAmerican Energy Inc. said it had to close down one of its mines because of a huge buildup of methane gas. The company wants to ventilate the mine before allowing workers back in, but in the meantime, that means lots of layoffs.
Kent Kirkwood, Laid-off Miner: "All they told us when we came out was to clean out our lockers, we're done."
Kent Kirkwood finally had the dream job that would allow him to take care of his family, but now it is gone.
Kent Kirkwood, Laid-off Miner: "I worked my butt off for them, became a foreman, got told not to come back."
He was one of 114 miners laid off today from UtahAmerican Energy Inc. mining company in Price. Now all of them are looking for work.
Laid Off Miner: "There's other mines. I got some good input, I checked out a couple jobs today."
The question is: why were all these workers let go?
Bruce Hill, CEO, UtahAmerican Energy Inc.: "Well it was done because it's for safety."
Hill says the Tower mine was producing a dangerous level of methane gas, which he says was unexpected. Rather than having miners working in those conditions, Hill says it's more important to ventilate the mine and bring the workers back when it's safe.
Bruce Hill, CEO, UtahAmerican Energy Inc.: "We're putting a lot of capital investment into the mine over the next three months and we're gonna hopefully have everybody back to work by the first of March."
Workers we spoke with, though, don't believe the excuse.
Kent Kirkwood: "There's always been methane in that mine. That mine's been a gassy mine all the time."
Laid Off Miner: "They're keeping people with less time, less experience to do my job. And in my opinion, it just aint right."
Hill says all those laid off workers will continue to have benefits in the meantime.
