This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This story first run on March 7, 2007
Nine miners died in August in the Crandall Canyon mine because Murray Energy Corp. cut coal it was not supposed to -- ignoring numerous warnings that its work was making the mine unstable -- and was allowed to do so by a bullied and complicit federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Having reached that conclusion in a scathing http://kennedy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CCM%20Report%20Final%20FOR%20POSTING%20020608.pdf" Target="_BLANK">report released Thursday, a Senate committee headed by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said "the secretary of labor should refer the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution."
The 75-page Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee report also cited internal Murray Energy documents to support its contention that mine co-owner Robert Murray was fully aware of dangerous structural problems resulting from the company's aggressive mining plan, despite his public assertions to the contrary.
On one company document talking about ground movements knocking coal out of pillars in March, Murray wrote "noted."
Murray's lead attorney, Michael McKown, responded strongly to the report. "We are shocked and outraged," he said, by the "serious and biased allegations [in a] superficial" committee report that is "politically motivated, irresponsible and unjustifiable."
Ranking Republicans on the Senate committee, including Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, came to Murray's defense. Hatch and Sens. Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Johnny Isakson of Georgia said MSHA should be allowed to complete its official disaster investigation before Congress rushes to judgment on "incomplete and unofficial evidence.
"Mine safety is too important an issue to risk misunderstandings about highly technical data prepared by nonexperts," they added in a joint statement.
MSHA spokesman Matthew Faraci concurred, saying speculation by Kennedy's staff is inappropriate while his agency's accident investigation team prepares its official report on the disaster's root causes.
But to Ed Havas, a Salt Lake City attorney helping to represent the heirs of seven of the nine victims and two other miners injured in the ill-fated rescue effort, the Kennedy report was "straightforward . . . seems to be well documented and thoroughly researched."
His law firm was disseminating the report to the victims' families Thursday evening. While he wants to review it in greater detail, Havas added "this simply confirms what we've always believed. The mining being done was dangerous, how it was being done was inappropriate and it should never have happened."
Added United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts: "The report also indicates that the mine's operator, Bob Murray, far overstepped his bounds before the tragedy occurred, and that MSHA did not take the proper action to stop him - indeed, the report says that Murray 'bullied MSHA and got away with it.' ''
The Senate committee report declared "the mining operations . . . at Crandall Canyon were among the most dangerous ever attempted."
Murray Energy was going after coal that Crandall Canyon's previous owner had left behind because it was needed to hold up the mountain above the mine. Citing documents from Murray Energy and its mining consultant, Agapito Associates Inc., the report added that when the company decided to go after that coal, engineering work validating the effort was based on faulty data that MSHA did not analyze thoroughly.
Most egregiously, the report alleged, Murray Energy was mining into what little was left of the south barrier pillar after being told directly by an MSHA inspector not to cut that coal. The company also violated its mining plan by taking several feet of coal out of the mine's floor, elongating the pillars and making them extra vulnerable to failure.
And the report showed that the catastrophic Aug. 6 failure occurred at precisely a point where, four months earlier, an Agapito engineer's notes revealed his concern about overhead and lateral pressures creating dangerous conditions.
Kennedy noted further that "MSHA also unconscionably failed to protect miners by hastily rubber-stamping the plan. This is a clear case of callous disregard for the law and for safety standards, and hardworking miners lost their lives."
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Thursday his agency will review the Senate committee's request for a criminal prosecution.
Murray Energy attorney McKown responded that "this sensational and irresponsible report makes slanderous allegations against innocent individuals. We are confident that, with a full review of the facts, this will be established."
Senate committee investigators reviewed more than 100,000 pages of documents and interviewed 15 to 20 people, sometimes multiple times, the aides said. Murray Energy was cooperative, they added, and the committee did not have to compel any documents or testimony.
The House Education and Labor Committee, which is also investigating the disaster, has issued subpoenas to Murray and Bruce Hill, president of the Murray Energy subsidiary that operated Crandall Canyon, to give depositions this month. It is unclear whether either will appear or will contest the subpoenas.