A telephone meeting of the eight-member Utah Mine Safety Commission that Huntsman created by executive order on Friday ended with promises for a longer meeting next month, with a report ready sometime this fall that could direct lawmakers toward new state worker safety guarantees.

But how far Utah could go on its own regarding mine safety - and what such a new level of bureaucracy would cost - remained unclear, especially since the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has been in charge for the past 30 years.

And, said Sen. Mike Dmitrich, it's unclear whether Utah really has a mine safety problem.

"You can't spend enough money on safety," said Dmitrich, a Democrat who has represented the Utah mining region for nearly 40 years. ''But before we get too carried away, let's look at Utah's mine-safety record. Do we really have a problem, other than this one?''

Utah's coal mining and worker safety will be compared with other states', commissioners agreed. They also want to know how the state managed miners' safety before the federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which established the Mine Safety and Health Administration; what regulatory authority other states have implemented to augment the 1977 law; how mining communities fare socially and economically when disasters occur; and the comparative safety records of Utah's coal mines.

"There's an underlying assumption that if a state has enforcement authority, [mining] is safer," said Utah Mining Association President David Litvin, adding that he wanted to know whether that is true.

Scott Matheson Jr., commission chairman, said he and others on the commission and in Utah agencies have contacted other states, including West Virginia and New Mexico, that do have additional enforcement authority.

West Virginia mining authorities, Matheson said, "felt it's critical we have that kind of information-sharing."

The commission will meet Sept. 10, likely at the College of Eastern Utah in Price. By this fall, they hope to have a report on which Utah lawmakers could base new safety legislation when the Legislature convenes in January.

During a post-meeting phone interview, Ron Wooten, director of West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training, said his state has had statutory authority over mining since 1883.

"We have what I would regard as a very aggressive regulatory and enforcement agency," he said. The state agency can cite and penalize mines, or even close them if they are deemed unsafe.

Pete Hackford, a safety director with the Utah Labor Commission, said MSHA regulations rule states, but states are allowed to have stricter laws if they take on inspection and regulatory responsibilities.

Of 17 states that have underground coal mining, nine have a state inspection program, Hackford said.

An open question before the Mine Safety Commission is whether dual inspections are worth the expenditure.

Utah's new safety efforts follow the Aug. 6 Crandall Canyon cave-in that trapped six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Alonso Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez - who remain unaccounted for. A rescue effort to tunnel to the trapped men ended Aug. 16 when another cave-in killed three men - Dale Ray Black, Gary Jensen and Brandon Kimber - and injured six others.

Increased mine-safety efforts tend to follow disasters, Hackford said.

"It's a flat tragedy when these things happen," he said. "Usually [law] is made in somebody's blood."

On Friday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. issued an executive order creating the Utah Mine Safety Commission, which will investigate the Crandall Canyon mine disaster and what the state might do to increase miners' safety. The commissioners:

* SCOTT MATHESON JR., former U.S. attorney and dean of the University of Utah law school, chairman

* JAKE GARN, former GOP U.S. Senator from Utah

* HILARY GORDON, Huntington mayor

* JOE PICCOLO, Price mayor

* UTAH SEN. MIKE DMITRICH, D-Price

* UTAH REP. KAY MCIFF, R-Richfield

* DENNIS O'DELL, safety and health director, United Mine Workers of America

* DAVID LITVIN, Utah Mining Association