MSHA Cites Flawed Mining Plan in Crandall Canyon Disaster—Others Question Agency’s Role

by Mike Hall, Jul 25, 2008

While the Department of Labor continues its investigation into the role of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)  in last year’s Crandall Canyon mine disaster,  including possible negligence, MSHA has released its own report on the collapse that killed six miners. Three rescue workers later were killed trying to reach the site in Utah.

The report by MSHA, part of the Labor Department, placed the blame for the collapse Aug. 6, 2007, squarely on the coal mine operator, Murray Energy Co., and the engineering company hired to develop the mining plan. The agency levied $1.6 million in fines against the mining company and $220,000 against the engineering firm.

Shortly after the collapse, most mine safety experts pointed to the mining plan approved by MSHA that allowed “retreat mining”—pulling down pillars of coal left in previously mined areas to support the mine roof, allowing the roof to collapse and the recovery of more coal.

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, MSHA says the the engineering firm, Agapito Associates Inc., hired by Murray Energy to analyze the retreat mining plan:

determined the mine would be unstable, but did not submit the findings to MSHA when the company sought approval to mine.

In addition, in March 2007, nearly five months before the collapse, the mine owners were warned that conditions there were dangerous. MSHA released an e-mail from the mine superintendent citing the dangers, which the agency uncovered during the investigation. The superintendent said:

I’ve used all the tricks we know of to pull these pillars, and I no longer feel we can do it without unacceptable risk.

But mining continued.

The MSHA report, according to the Tribune, said the coal company went the beyond what had been approved.

…the mine operator further undermined the stability by violating the approved mine plan and cutting additional coal from the floor and thick barrier walls inside the mine.

MSHA also says the company failed to report three cases of supporting coal pillars literally exploding under the pressure of holding up the mine roof. One was just three days before other pillars gave way in a massive collapse that covered more than a half mile.

While the MSHA report clearly shows that the retreat mining plan should never have been approved, the agency’s claim that it wasn’t aware of the plan’s dangers has been contradicted by other reports and one of its own engineers.

Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says the Crandall Canyon disaster demonstrates

…what has happened to MSHA over the last seven years under the Bush administration. It has become a coddler of coal companies, not an enforcer of law and regulation. These reports reiterate the need for a change in administration, to one that will put workers’ health and safety above increased production and profits.

Says Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee:

MSHA’s report affirms the conclusions reached by our own investigation: Murray Energy should not have proposed the flawed retreat mining plan, and MSHA should not have approved the plan. It is clear that Murray Energy is an outlaw company that recklessly endangered its employees’ lives. It is tragic that the deaths of six miners and three rescuers resulted from the reckless actions of a few individuals and inadequate MSHA oversight.

An MSHA mining engineer raised concerns about the plan and cited computer models showing the dangers. But, according to a March report by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, he was overruled by superiors who “rubber-stamped” the plan.

MSHA missed significant flaws in Agapito’s analysis, dismissed critical findings by MSHA’s own engineer and did not submit the plans—which proposed one of the most hazardous mining operations ever attempted—for review by MSHA’s expert technical staff.

An April report by the Department of Labor’s inspector general says MSHA failed to diligently oversee the mining plan. The IG report said:

MSHA’s actions and inactions, taken as a whole, lead us to conclude that [MSHA] lacked care and attention in fulfilling its responsibilities to protect miners….MSHA could not show how it analyzed roof-control plans, the criteria it measured the plans against, the rationale for approving the plans, that the plans were properly implemented or that the plans continued to protect miners over time. These deficiencies evidence the agency’s serious and systemic lack of diligence in protecting miners, and we do not believe it is misleading to use the term “negligent.”

The IG report also raised concerns that company officials may have pressured MSHA to approve the plan. In a memo to MSHA two days before the safety agency approved a retreat mining plan, a Murray company official wrote:

I have a fire under my ass to get this approved. I need your help.

Says Miller:

We will review MSHA’s investigation report and that of the forthcoming review of MSHA’s actions at the mine. The agency’s track record, however, leads me to believe that MSHA is not up to the task of protecting the health and safety of our nation’s miners. We must ensure that another tragedy such as this never happens again.

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