Feds blame operator for mine collapse
PRICE, Utah (AP) - July 24, 2008 The officials said a subsidiary of Ohio-based Murray Energy
Corp. undermined other pillars by excavating coal from tunnel
floors. They also faulted the company's engineering firm, Agapito
Associates Inc. of Grand Junction, Colo., for conducting a flawed
evaluation of mining dangers.
Murray Energy chief Bob Murray has insisted that taking down the
pillars, a practice called retreat mining, had nothing to do with
the collapse. He argued from the start that it was caused by an
earthquake.
At a news conference Thursday, Mine Safety and Health
Administration chief Richard Stickler disputed that, instead
blaming poor engineering.
"First of all, it was not - and I'll repeat not - a natural
occurring earthquake, but in fact it was a catastrophic outburst of
the coal pillars that were used to support the ground above the
coal seam," Stickler said.
The agency is fining Murray Energy affiliate Genwal Resources
Inc. $1.6 million and Agapito $220,000 for the disaster - the
largest fines ever imposed on a U.S. coal mining operation, he
said.
The Aug. 6 collapse trapped six miners whose bodies haven't been
recovered. Three others were killed during a rescue attempt.
MSHA said Genwal Resources misled regulators about the dangers
and violated its approved mining plan.
Genwal responded in a lengthy statement contending "politics"
and congressional meddling corrupted the MSHA investigation.
"This report does not have the benefit of all of the facts and
appears to have been tainted by ten months of relentless political
clamoring to lay blame for these tragic events," the company said.
Agapito Associates said it hadn't had a chance to study the
report and couldn't immediately comment.
The MSHA report confirmed congressional investigations that
faulted Genwal for courting danger at the mine.
Internal company memos revealed that the company was digging
into massive blocks of coal that should have been left standing to
hold the mine up, according to a March report issued by Sen. Edward
Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The same report found that the company was excavating coal from
tunnel floors, undermining other coal pillars straining under the
tremendous weight of the mountain.
MSHA's report said the operator didn't have permission to mine
the "bottom coal." Yet internal company memos made no secret of
the practice, which continued within days of the collapse.
Colin King, a lawyer for families suing Murray Energy and
affiliates, said the report showed that the company failed to
properly report early signs of trouble. MSHA officials said they
weren't made aware of a partial collapse of another section of the
mine in March 2007, seven months before the fatal summer cave-ins.
And in a previously unreported incident, the report said Genwal
Resources failed to report a coal "outburst" on Aug. 3 that
half-buried an equipment operator in loose coal. The operator was
uninjured, according to the report.
Kristin Kimber, the widow of rescue miner Brandon Kimber, said
the report provides her with a sense of closure.
"Now we know the complete truth and we can move on from here,"
said Kimber, a mother of three. "But there are people I feel who
need to be held accountable for their decisions and their actions
... that's what I'm looking forward to."
MSHA didn't escape criticism from a parent agency. A second
report issued late Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor faulted
the mining agency for lax oversight. It said MSHA failed to uncover
problems and inconsistencies in the engineering and roof-control
plans at Crandall Canyon and gambled on a risky rescue operation.
MSHA tapped a district manager, Richard A. Gates of Birmingham,
Ala., as chief of the investigative team. Six other members are
career MSHA officials.
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Associated Press writer Paul Foy reported from Salt Lake City.
