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By Thomas Burr, The Salt Lake Tribune

WASHINGTON - Crandall Canyon Mine operators may have “willfully misled” federal officials about deteriorating conditions inside the mine, and the Justice Department should launch a criminal probe against the mine’s general manager, a congressional committee report says.

House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller said Thursday he has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether mine general manager Laine Adair, “individually or in conspiracy with others, willfully concealed or covered up” or made “false representations” to federal officials about the conditions in the mine, a violation of federal law.

A Justice Department spokesman says the request has been turned over to Brett Tolman, the U.S. Attorney for Utah.

Adair’s attorney, Gregory L. Poe, said in a statement that Adair finds the call for a criminal investigation “deeply disappointing and utterly unjustified.”

Adair, along with mine co-owner Bob Murray and several other Murray Energy officials declined to be deposed by committee investigators, asserting their constitutional right against self-incrimination, the report says.

The president and a former principal of Agapito Associates, the engineering firm that advised Murray Energy on the mine plan, also were subpoenaed to testify but invoked their Fifth Amendment right as well, according to the report.

The report also says that mine officials did not properly notify federal authorities about a March collapse, called a bump, and that Adair may have “significantly downplayed” the extent of the damage. Six miners were trapped - and ultimately entombed - in the mine after a collapse on Aug. 6, and three would-be rescuers were killed and six others injured 10 days later.

An independent engineering consultant hired by the House committee says the mining plan submitted by Murray Energy subsidiary UtahAmerican Energy would have been successful if the pillars in the area were in pristine condition. However, the analysis shows it was “unlikely” the pillars were strong enough to hold up the ceiling, and notes from the Bureau of Land Management indicated deterioration in the pillars as far back as 2004.

The House committee is the third scathing report about the operations at the Crandall Canyon Mine. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee also called for a criminal probe and the Labor Department’s independent Inspector General said the Mine Safety and Health Administration was negligent in its responsibility to oversee safety of miners there. More…

Gee, not one mention about toilet paper violations. Must suck to be you, Bob Murray! Kudos again to The Salt Lake Tribune, for their wonderful, in depth coverage! -Sue

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