While the agency has made some recent strides - it's adding inspectors, conducting more rigorous reviews, issuing more citations and leveling larger fines against renegade mining companies - a Labor Department investigation of MSHA's role in the Crandall Canyon coal mine catastrophes is damning.

Released last week, the report makes 81 recommendations to correct deficiencies deemed complicit in the accident that killed six miners in the Emery County deep mine last Aug. 6, and a botched rescue attempt that claimed three more lives on Aug. 16. And it mimics critical reports issued by a pair of congressional committees and Labor's inspector general. Stickler, a former coal mine manager and industry insider, sets the tone for the regulatory agency and must shoulder the brunt of the blame.

Stickler is a recess appointment and has served nearly two years without congressional approval. The concern in the Senate was that MSHA, under Stickler, would coddle coal companies, that production and profits would take priority over health and safety.

MSHA's opposition to safety enhancements in the S-Miner Act, as well as comments made by Stickler to The Tribune editorial board last week, seem to confirm those suspicions.

Regarding MSHA's failure to flag faulty mining plans at Crandall Canyon, Stickler said the agency put too much trust in the mine's engineering firm, which had performed capably in the past. But plans need to be critically reviewed no matter who submits them.

While discussing rescue efforts at Crandall Canyon, he said he would have preferred to see a second rig drilling overhead bore holes in an attempt to reach the missing miners. When the mine owners, who pay the rescue bills, wanted to focus efforts underground, Stickler acquiesced.

But the most disturbing thing that Stickler said, in a matter-of-fact manner, is that "99 percent" of mining regulations result from accidents, many involving injuries and deaths.

That's unacceptable. The nation's mine workers need a mine safety agency that is proactive, not reactive. One that anticipates problems and takes steps to solve them before accidents occur.

Stickler should resign. And his replacement should be a lifetime regulator, not a former mine manager. The last thing our nation's miners need is another industry insider running MSHA.