PARK CITY — Though tragic, situations such as those at the Crandall Canyon Mine or last year's deadly explosion at West Virginia's Sago Mine are not indicative of the mining industry as a whole, a top industry official said Thursday.
"The progress in mine safety seems always to be clouded by the latest event," said J. Brett Harvey, president and chief executive officer of CONSOL Energy, the largest underground coal mining company in the United States.
CONSOL owns the small Emery Mine in southeastern Utah, which employs about 200 people.
"The blows to our industry's reputation from high-profile incidents impact the safety regulatory environment in which we work every day," Harvey said during his keynote address at the Utah Mining Association's annual convention at The Canyons ski resort.
The two-day convention, which was dedicated to victims of the Crandall Canyon incident, opened with a prayer from Father Robert Bussen of Park City's St. Mary's of the Assumption church.
"We pray for miners everywhere," Father Bussen said. "Hold them close and keep them safe. Let their families be secure."
Bussen also asked God to care for the six men still trapped in the depths of the mountain, "whose fate is known to you alone."
The Crandall Canyon Mine collapsed in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, trapping six miners who were nearing the end of their 12-hour shift. On Aug. 16, underground seismic activity led to a second collapse that killed three rescue workers and injured six others.
All of the Crandall Canyon miners, UMA chairman Gerald Van Campen said, are "true American patriots."
The mining association has not been involved in the rescue effort, though officials have notified Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. that they would like to be involved in his newly formed Utah Mine Safety Commission, UMA president David Litvin said. The group will consider what the state's role should be in protecting coal miners.
As is typical in mine accidents, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will also complete a thorough investigation that will guide upcoming rules and regulations in the industry in hopes of preventing future accidents.
"It's important to know what happened and why," Litvin said.
Van Campen agreed. "We will apply what is found from the Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy to ensure that Utah is a safer place to mine."
The three core values of the mining industry, Van Campen said, are "safety, safety and safety."
Overall, mining in the United States remains a relatively safe industry, Thursday's speakers said. The UMA distributed Bureau of Labor statistics showing that mining falls behind construction, transportation, agriculture and manufacturing in its numbers of fatal occupational injuries.
Coal mining had 47 fatal accidents last year and 4.9 non-fatal injuries per 100 workers in 2005, which Harvey said was still too many.
In his morning speech, Harvey, a fourth-generation coal miner and Utah native, called on his colleagues to make coal mining a zero-accident industry. CONSOL, he said, has abandoned incremental approaches to safety in favor of the theory that "an accident is an abnormality that is unacceptable."
"Our approach means that safety trumps everything else we do," Harvey said. "It trumps production; it trumps profits. It trumps all other rules, policies or procedures."
Critics have targeted Crandall Canyon co-owner Murray Energy Corp. for practicing a controversial type of mining in an attempt to maximize profits by recovering all possible coal from the mine.
Retreat mining, however, is common practice in coal mines across the United States, said Michael McCarter, chairman of the University of Utah's mining engineering department.
Companies are under an obligation, he said Thursday, to recover as many resources as possible.
"It's their responsibility to administer that for the benefit of the people of their country," McCarter said. "Otherwise, you're leaving vast energy resources in the ground."
Technological advances, such as two-way wireless communication that can transmit through the mountain or reliable locating beacons, will improve future mining safety, speakers said Thursday.
However, said one mine manager who works not too far from Huntington's Crandall Canyon Mine, sometimes even the best advances can only do so much.
"Only God can hold a mountain up when it wants to settle," the man said. "There's no one to blame."
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com