Labor Department Report on Crandall Canyon Slams MSHA

In late March, the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Labor (DL) issued an 80-page report that blamed regulators at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for negligence in approving a roof-control plan for the Crandall Canyon mine. The report from Assistant Inspector General Elliot Lewis said MSHA could not show it made the right decision when it approved risky retreat mining at Crandall Canyon. MSHA is part of the Labor Department.

The DL report placed much of the blame for the fatal accidents on MSHA’s field office in Price, Utah, and also said agency headquarters exercised little or no oversight. The field office, it said, ignored Crandall Canyon’s history of mining-induced “bumps.” It recommended nine policy changes to MSHA Director Richard E. Stickler, who said his agency was acting on the suggestions.

However, Stickler disputed the claim his agency was negligent and unduly influenced by the mine operator, Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp. “We take exception to the inspector general’s use of headline-grabbing language that is unsupported by facts or evidence,” MSHA Spokesperson Matthew Faraci said on March 31.

On March 28, Murray Energy’s UtahAmerican Energy Inc. indefinitely shut down its 2,750-ft-deep Tower mine in Utah, thought to be the deepest coal mine in the U.S., because of “unusual stress conditions” on mine pillars.

As featured in Womp 08 Vol 3 - www.womp-int.com