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Team coverage A new report comes down hard on the operators of the Crandall Canyon mine, even suggesting some of them ought to be sent to prison.
That report from the House committee on Education and Labor accuses mine officials of misleading federal regulators, and the committee chairman asked for a criminal investigation. But he drew a sharp rebuke from company lawyers.
Foreseeable and avoidable, that was the committee's judgment about the mine collapse that led to nine deaths. Why didn't federal safety officials see it coming? It's because they were allegedly misled by a company cover-up.
The disaster was the result of retreat mining, according to the committee's report. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said, "It is likely that the tragedy was the result of a flawed plan for conducting retreat mining in the area of the mine where the deaths occurred."
The double tragedy started on Aug. 6 when six miners were killed. Ten days later, three rescuers searching for the trapped miners were also killed. Both incidents were caused by powerful bumps in the mine.
Coal pillars essential for holding up the roof were partially mined away to maximize profit. The report says a huge bump that shook the mine a few months before the disaster should have been a red flag. But company officials allegedly misled regulators about how serious it was. Miller said UtahAmerican Energy failed to report correctly a March 2007 "bump" -- where a pillar or series of pillars holding the mine roof burst -- in another section of the mine.
After that accident, plans to work in the area where the miners died should never have been approved by MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration), said Miller, who wants the Justice Department to investigate the mine's general manager, Laine W. Adair, and others. "I believe that UtahAmerican Energy may have deliberately and significantly downplayed the extent of the March bump in its conversations with MSHA staff," Miller said.
Bob Murray and six other company officials and consultants took the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify. Miller asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation. "It's a question of whether they made false statements and engaged in a conspiracy to promote those false statements. And the fact that everybody involved has taken the Fifth gives us that cause for concern."
Miller went on to say, "Given the fact that nine people died, we think that, yes, that rises to the level of criminality."
"You know, this is really an outrageous allegation," said Kevin N. Anderson, lawyer for Genwal Resources Inc, which is owned by Murray Energy Corp. "There is no credible basis for this strained effort to concoct a criminal referral in this matter. Representative Miller's reckless allegations are merely political grandstanding. We are confident that any impartial investigator will reach the same conclusion."
Adair issued a written statement this morning saying a criminal probe is unjustified and that his conduct was entirely proper.
The house committee did refer the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice for a criminal investigation. A congressional committee, by itself, has no legal power to file criminal charges. But U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman does. He said he's taking the committee recommendation seriously and promises a thorough investigation.
The MSHA is still investigating the two cave-ins.
Meanwhile, the families of the miners who died say it's about time people knew what they've known all along. "The employers and the operators have got to understand that they're dealing with people's lives," said Sonny Olsen, attorney for the miners' families.
Olsen says the families are disappointed Bob Murray is refusing to speak and believe it infers he willfully misled others about Crandall Canyon's safety all along.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
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E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
