WASHINGTON — Bob Murray and Richard Stickler have been scheduled to testify on the Crandall Canyon Mine accident at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Sept. 5, just as Sen. Edward Kennedy put in a request for volumes of information from the Labor Department on the mine to start his own investigation.
Several lawmakers have called for congressional examination of the Aug. 6 collapse at Crandall Canyon that trapped six miners, as well as the collapse that killed three rescue workers last week. Congress held hearings after the Sago mine disaster killed 12 people in 2006 and eventually passed several changes to mining policies after that accident.
The Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education subcommittee on Thursday announced the Sept. 5 hearing called "The Utah Mine Disaster and Preventing Future Tragedies," with Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and Murray, head of Murray Energy Inc., which owns the mine, listed as invited witnesses.
Cecil Roberts, International President of the United Mine Workers of America, and J. Davitt McAteer, a former MSHA head, also are scheduled to testify.
Meanwhile, Kennedy, D-Mass., who heads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that oversees mine safety, sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao requesting documents and other materials on the mine spanning 19 different categories.
"The loss of life at the mine, and the devastating emotional toll on families of the victims, underscore the urgent need for a thorough examination of our federal system of mine safety," Kennedy said in his letter to Chao.
Kennedy said he was "troubled" by reports that roof problems were not reported to MSHA, which "raise questions about the integrity of the mine operator's reporting and the rigor of MSHA inspections."
Kennedy requested documents in the Uniform Mine File on Crandall Canyon, any documents on mine plan changes and MSHA consideration of them, inspection reports, meeting minutes, e-mail, handwritten notes and other communication between the mine owners and MSHA officials, and a variety of other documents.
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