The House Education and Labor Committee, which is investigating the August disaster in central Utah, sent subpoenas Friday to Murray Energy Corp. chief executive Robert Murray and Bruce Hill, president of Murray subsidiary UtahAmerican Energy, the mine's operator.
The Senate Appropriations Committee had previously subpoenaed Murray, though he has yet to testify on Capitol Hill because of delays. Three congressional committees are probing the disaster.
Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat who is chairman of the House committee, says Murray and Hill must appear for depositions with committee investigators in mid-March.
"Our goal in speaking with Mr. Murray and Mr. Hill is the same as our goal in this investigation - to learn what went wrong at the Crandall Canyon Mine so that we can apply lessons learned from this tragedy to ensure that nothing like it happens again," Miller said in a statement.
Committee spokesman
Thomas Kiley says investigators had asked Murray to testify voluntarily, but to no avail.
"We had asked to sit down and speak with Mr. Murray on several occasions, but those requests have been rebuffed," Kiley said.
Murray Energy vice president, Rob Murray, declined comment other than to say, "UtahAmerican Energy Inc. has been cooperating with the House Education [and] Labor Committee and all the other investigatory bodies regarding the tragic events at the Crandall Canyon Mine this past August."
Murray was supposed to appear before senators on the Appropriations Committee in December, but the hearing was canceled.
Kate Kelly, a spokeswoman for Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee panel looking into the Crandall Canyon tragedy, says Murray has not yet been rescheduled to appear before the subcommittee.
Six miners were trapped - and ultimately entombed - in the Crandall Canyon mine on Aug. 6 when a pressure-born "bump" caused the walls, floor and ceiling to implode, authorities believe. Three would-be rescuers were killed 10 days later in another collapse.
tburr@sltrib.com
