BICKNELL, Wayne County — As the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration faces scrutiny in Washington, he has the sympathy of state bureaucrats in Utah.

MSHA director Richard Stickler testified before the Senate yesterday about the events surrounding the six employees of the Crandall Canyon Mine, outside Huntington, Emery County. The miners were trapped underground in the Aug. 6 collapse and are presumed dead. Three rescuers who were trying to reach the six men were killed 10 days later.

But the directors of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and the state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, told a group of 50 state employees — including four legislators — Wednesday morning that Stickler's job was difficult, because he was expected to assist with the rescue effort, although he had to work with mine owners who were footing the bill for the rescue.

"In many ways, he's one of the unsung heros," said John Baza, director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

Baza said that working with outspoken Crandall Canyon Mine co-owner Robert Murray required artful skill.

Stickler "had to do that in a tactful way," Baza said. "Murray was the type of guy who would pack up his toys and go home."

Michael Styler, executive director over Natural Resources, also praised the

MSHA workers. "I was impressed by the quality of those folks, poring over the maps, day and night," he said.

Baza and Styler are part of a bus tour of the Resource and Development Coordinating Council. Federal and state employees are on the three-day bus trip through south-central Utah to study resource and agricultural issues, and the four legislators from the Legislature's Natural Resources Appropriations Committee are also on board.

After Murray took over the Crandall Canyon Mine, the mine was in a "secondary mining phase," Baza said. Much of the coal had been mined in the 1930s and later in the 1980s through the longwall mining method.

Murray was after the remaining coal in 80-foot-by-80-foot columns that were supporting the roof. To obtain the coal, he collapsed some of the columns in a method called retreat mining, Baza said.

The method is fairly common in the mining industry and is approved by MSHA, Baza said, but for some reason, the columns were under stress and exploded outwards, called "bumps."

Styler, in describing the pressure, said, "It would be like standing in front of a cannon and having it blow rocks at you."

Baza is serving as an executive secretary of a state commission appointed Aug. 23 by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. that will study what the state's role should be in mine regulation. The state ceded mine safety to the federal government in 1977, a decision the governor said may need to be reconsidered.

The Utah Geological Survey estimates that Utah mines will produce 24.5 tons of coal in 2007, said UGS director Rick Allis.

Allis estimates that Utah miners will be able to continue extracting coal for the next 40 to 50 years, depending on the price of extraction and whether miners will continue to depths of 3,000 feet below the surface.

Going deeper he said, "assumes the price gradually goes up."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com