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Danger Signs at Crandall Canyon Mine Raised Five Months Ago

by Mike Hall, Aug 14, 2007

Danger signs surfaced five months ago about the Utah coal mine where six miners have been trapped for more than a week, the Salt Lake City Tribune reports.

 

Mine safety experts also are questioning approval by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration of retreat mining at the Crandall Canyon Mine. And last week, CNN.com reported that miners there were concerned about safety but feared reprisals if they spoke out.

 

On Sunday, the Tribune reported on a memo it had obtained that:

…shows that mine owners were trying to work around “poor roof conditions” before halting mining of the northern tunnels in early March after a “large bump occurred…resulting in heavy damage” in those tunnels.

 

A bump or bounce occurs when the intense pressure on the coal pillars supporting the mine causes the pillars to burst, “sending coal and rock flying with explosive force,” according to that National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The memo was prepared by a mining engineering firm hired by Utah American, a mining subsidiary of Murray Energy, to study its retreat mining plans. Murray Energy, headed by CEO Robert Murray, owns the Crandall Canyon Mine.

Retreat mining, which most safety experts say adds additional risks to mining, involves pulling pillars of unmined coal from a worked-out section of the mine. Pillars that had been used to help support the mine roof are pulled to recover the coal as miners retreat from the mined-out area. MSHA approved the retreat mining plan.

Robert Ferriter, who heads the mine safety program at the Colorado School of Mines, says the retreat mining plan at Crandall Canyon is “dangerous.”

Damn dangerous I would say. What is MSHA doing in all this? They are the ones who are supposed to catch this sort of thing.

The memo noted problems between crosscuts 133 and 138, or passages cut across the main entry tunnel. The paper said rescue workers believe the miners were trapped Aug. 6 in a “catastrophic cave-in” near crosscut 138 on the south side of the main corridor.

According to the Tribune:

The miners were working in a spot about 900 feet from where the dangerous roof conditions were noted in March, according to a detailed map of the mine. The damage from Monday’s cave-in stretched hundreds of yards, with rubble blocking entries more than half a mile away and numerous additional bumps making rescue work unsafe.

Murray, who told the Tribune he was not aware of the problems pinpointed in March, has denied that retreat mining was involved in the disaster and has dismissed the safety claims.

 

Two holes have been drilled from above the mine to the areas where the miners  may have been trapped, but cameras and listening devices have shown no signs of life. A third, larger hole is being drilled today in hopes of gathering more information.

 

Meanwhile, CNN.com reports that Crandall Canyon miners were concerned about safety but afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs:

Asked why they did not complain about their safety concerns, several miners said complaining means the loss of a job.

Murray denied that. “If you’re getting that from the community, then those miners must work for another mining company. I don’t operate that way,” he said.

Not so, said Paul Riddle, who used to work in one of Murray’s mines. “Always profits before safety, that’s my opinion, my feeling, my experience,” he said.

Miners who work for Murray are sometimes forced to push the envelope when it comes to safety, he said, and are afraid to speak up for fear of being fired.

“I’m not the only one,” he said. “There are many, many people that feel this way and are afraid to speak up.”

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Tags: Utah American, Crandall Canyon, Robert Murray, Murray Energy, Mine Safety and Health Administration, MSHA, coal mine safety
Channels: In the States

7 Comments

  1. No Amnesty on 15.08.2007 at 13:31 (Reply)

    I’m in total agreement that retreat mining appears to be a very dangerous practice. But I’m also concerned about the dangers of employing non-English speaking people in our mines. IMO the inability of the miners to easily communicate sounds very dangerous as well. When there is an emergency the ability or lack thereof to communicate could mean the difference between life and death. If I were a miner I would REFUSE to enter a mine with anyone who could not easily and readily communicate with me IN ENGLISH.

  2. dpuleio on 15.08.2007 at 17:06 (Reply)

    I am not surprised by this. Even when serious violations are brought to the attention of “regulatory” agencies like OSHA/MSHA they get negotiated down to less serious violations with reduced fines through abatement. Several months before my brother, Gary Puleio http://garypuleio.blogspot.com was killed at Meadville Redi-mix concrete, OSHA found NUMEROUS serious violations that were settled with rather trivial fines. These paltry fines and lax enforcement policies allow these fatalities to keep occuring.

  3. She Hulk on 15.08.2007 at 18:41 (Reply)

    I can’t help but notice that with thousands of workers getting killed every year in mines, on construction sites, in factories, etc. etc., the AFL-CIO cut its health and safety staff from 4 people to 2 a couple years ago. Many unions have likewise eliminated their health and safety staff. Say what???

  4. lgresham on 15.08.2007 at 21:16 (Reply)

    IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THE EMPLOYEE’S WERE NOT UNIONIZED. IF THEY HAD BEEN, THEY COULD HAVE REFUSE TO WORK IF THE MINE WAS DANGEROUS WITHOUT FEAR OF LOSING THEIR JOBS. NO ONE SHOULD WORK THESE TYPES OF JOBS WITHOUT THE PROTECTION OF A UNION. WORKERS SHOULD BE PROTECTED BY GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS BUT WE HAVE REPUBLICANS IN CHARGE AND THEY APPOINT PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT WORKER FRIENDLY AND WEAKEN LAWS THAT ARE SUPPOSE TO PROTECT US. THINK ABOUT THAT NEXT ELECTION.

  5. ChicanoWobbly on 16.08.2007 at 12:24 (Reply)

    In response to NO Amnesty, nowhere has it been reported that workers lack of English was the primary factor for this undue tragedy! The fact is mine owner Robert Murray speaks and reads English well, but chooses to ignore all mine safety regulations!

    I don’t believe blaming immigrants for this disaster is either positive or in anyone’s real interest! Full blame must go to the mine owner and Elaine Chao from the Dept. of Labor!

    UMW, you guys need to organize the remaining mines NOW!

  6. union friend on 19.08.2007 at 14:12 (Reply)

    Mine safety, along with construction safety, has deteriorated dramatically in this country, and it is appalling that the owners of these businesses, MSHA, and the federal government don’t seem to give a damn about the safety of the mines or mine workers. What I find even more appalling is why it is taking so long to reach the miners who are trapped. Is there something sinister that we are not aware of. I agree with Igresham in that Unions are necessary to protect workers. One can never rely on businesses and corporations to police themselves. They never have; they never will.

  7. Peace on 19.08.2007 at 20:46 (Reply)

    In researching mine disasters, it seems that worker error played an important role in many combined with the dangerous elements of the mine: methane, coal dust, instability of the mine/mountain.
    In one disaster, there was a mistake with a “shot” (whatever that is) having to do with blasting dynamite; in another young boys let the mule with hay get too close to a kerosene lamp. Other causes of the explosions, cave-ins, etc. may never have been discovered.

    On the subject of retreat mining and whether it was being done at the Crandall Canyon mine, please consider this:

    So-called experts and the media have reported that retreat mining was being done and the speculation is that the procedure caused the monster bump that entombed the 6 miners. Maybe not…

    Sadly, we had another monster bump that killed 3 rescuers and injured 6. Were they doing retreat mining? NO! So, everyone needs to wait until all of the facts are in from a thorough investigation before passing judgement.

    Pray for all of the miners and their families. This job…mining may not be the most dangerous in the country (according to the latest statistics), but in my mind it is! The men, boys and any women who have done this work are all real heroes.

    Out of this horrendous tragedy I have learned why coal is mined to generate electricity. As a girl in Ohio, we burned coal in our furnace keeping our home nice and warm. I had no idea that men were continuing to go down into those treacherous mines.

    I pray that out of this Crandall Canyon tragedy, that new safety measures for miners are put into effect as soon as possible. Let’s have a communication device…some kind of walkie/talkie/super cell phone…or whatever. It does not make sense to expect anyone to go deep into the belly of a mine/mountain without any means of communication. Also, put in first-aid stations with supplies at various intervals. Finally, I don’t think that miners should go down to a depth of 1500 feet and beyond. That is just too deep…too far into the earth. Perhaps even going beyond 500 feet is too deep!

    God love them all.

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