After all, it was BLM inspector Steve Falk who wrote in a report in 2005 that deteriorating conditions in the West Mains section of the Crandall Canyon mine made that area "untenable" for retreat mining, the approach being used there on Aug. 6 when the mine's walls collapsed, fatally burying six men.

When federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) official Kevin Stricklin told a Senate committee early this month that the BLM report was not shared with his agency, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., likened the situation to "the CIA not talking to the FBI when we're getting attacked by terrorists."

So Utah Mine Safety Commission members were eager to hear from Kent Hoffman, the BLM's deputy state director, as they try to determine what the state can do to make its coal mines safer and to avoid a repeat of the Crandall Canyon disaster, where three rescuers also died Aug. 16 in a second implosion of the mine's walls.

But Hoffman informed the commission in an e-mail at 3:30 p.m. Friday that he could not attend Monday morning's session because of scheduling conflicts.

"We were looking forward to it," said the commission's disappointed chairman, Scott Matheson, who then juggled the meeting schedule "because of that late change and unexpected development."

Instead of hearing from the BLM, which oversees coal and other underground minerals and has authority over mining plans to ensure that these resources are utilized to the maximum extent possible, Matheson turned to the state School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA).

While most Utah coal being mined is under BLM control, SITLA often has parcels scattered throughout federal leases. But Tom Faddies, a veteran hard-rock miner who is now SITLA's assistant director of minerals, said his agency looks to the BLM for technical and engineering guidance in authorizing companies to proceed with coal mining beneath trust lands.

Faddies said SITLA does not pay attention to the methods being used to remove the coal, just that it is being extracted. And if underground conditions prompt changes in the mining plan, he added, "that's not a major concern for me - but it might be a major concern for MSHA," which is responsible for mine safety.

In the case of Crandall Canyon, said commission member Mike Dmitrich, "critical questions" remain unanswered about modifications to the mining plan that allowed UtahAmerican Energy to mine two barrier pillars, each initially 450 feet wide, that supported the weight of the mountain above the West Mains section.

Dmitrich later asked Michael Nelson, a University of Utah associate professor of mining engineering, if he knew of any other Utah mines in which barrier pillars were mined. "I'm not aware of any," said Nelson, prompting Dmitrich to respond, "I'm not sure we should ever mess with a barrier pillar in the West," where mines often are deep.

In other matters, Matheson said:

* He has made entreaties to the U.S. Department of Labor to have Richard Gates, head of MSHA's team investigating Crandall Canyon, or Sherrie Hayashi, the state's representative on the panel, provide a briefing to the commission. Labor's lawyers are mulling the request but have not responded, he said.

* MSHA director Richard Stickler, who met with the media and victims' families two weeks ago, also has been invited to address the commission, but nothing has been set up.

* The commission also has extended an invitation to Robert Murray, whose UtahAmerican Energy subsidiary co-owned and operated Crandall Canyon, but "he has thus far declined . . . If and when he would be willing to appear, we would be happy to have him."

mikeg@sltrib.com