At Crandall Canyon, the miners were working at depths that test the limits of safety. Although Murray denies it, federal regulatory officials say that retreat mining was being practiced. Retreat mining is a perilous technique in which pillars of coal hold up portions of the roof, and when the area is mined, the pillars are pulled down, capturing the useful coal and collapsing the roof. Even hard-driving mine owners aren’t allowed to run amok. There are federal and state laws and regulations that help protect worker safety in the mines. But the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration isn’t exactly a bulldog. The mine safety czar, Richard Stickler, a former coal company executive with a lousy safety record, was deemed so unfit for the post by Republican and Democratic senators alike that they wouldn’t confirm him. So Bush appointed him on October 2006 when the Congress was in recess.
And Murray, the owner of the Utah mine, is infamous for routinely opposing safety regulations. “Anything that will cost Bob Murray any extra money, he will find reason to find fault with it,” said Phil Smith, communications director of the United Mine Workers, which doesn’t represent the workers in Utah.
I saw this link when I happened to check back at mullentown for the local newsies’ angle on the Crandall mine disaster. I’d heard the NPR story this morning, which was also careful to note that Stickler was a former coal company executive who was a Bush appointee. Why are we not surprised that yet another Federal “health and safety” type commission is being run by the political equivalent of a fox in the chicken run?
There are going to be a lot of hard questions asked, and it’s likely that there will be Congressional hearings that will actually expect answers and not platitudes and talking points.