Last week, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., released a scathing report on the Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy, which blasted Murray Energy Corp. and the Mine Safety and Health Administration and suggested that criminal charges should be filed.

In response, I publically stated we should not rush to judgment based on the conclusions of this one report, which was prepared by Senate staffers who, while certainly capable, are not mining experts.

I said that the government should weigh the opinions in the study with the official findings from the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Labor and Mine Safety and Health Administration reports, which are due out later this year.

On March 9, The Salt Lake Tribune criticized me in an editorial for suggesting patience. I, according to the editorial, "apparently fail to grasp the absurdity of a government agency investigating itself, and the fact that the oversight committee was simply doing its job."

Well, this is wrong on all counts. I certainly do recognize that the committee was doing its job, and I even expressed appreciation for Sen. Kennedy's attention to this tragedy in our state. Moreover, MSHA is required by law to investigate itself. MSHA is an agency full of mining experts and is tasked with recommending whether to pursue criminal charges.

To suggest a government agency shouldn't monitor itself would be like saying a newspaper shouldn't copy edit its own articles. And let's not forget the fact that I was the one who urged the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Labor to investigate Crandall Canyon.

Finding the appropriate response to Crandall Canyon is like making a jigsaw puzzle, and Sen. Kennedy's report last week was but one piece. But I'm interested in all the pieces, the whole picture. Americans, Utahns and the families of the victims deserve it.

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* SEN. ORRIN HATCH represents Utah in the U.S. Senate.