He said that during the rescue efforts, his goal was to treat family members the way he would want his family to be treated. MSHA had a liaison available all day at a family center in the junior high school, and the center later was moved to a church.

"For the most part, we did a good job," Stickler said.

But witnesses told a different story at the hearing.

"The past two months have been like a roller coaster for all of us," said Michael Marasco, son-in-law of Kerry Allred, one of the six miners trapped in the initial collapse. "From day one, we have been let down by Mr. Murray and by MSHA."

Family members said they had no clear indication of who was in charge of giving them information during the rescue efforts, with Murray giving incorrect information and MSHA not answering their questions.

Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. expressed frustration over what he said was a lack of "defined authority" from MSHA in handling the accident.

"When you have an incident like that, you expect MSHA to be parachuting out of a C-130 to take care of the situation, with some sense of direction and authority and clearly defined lines of decision making," Huntsman said. "It didn't appear to be that way."

Marasco said the families' treatment by Murray and MSHA was "unbelievable," and Murray even yelled at them when they would ask questions.

"We were just continually let down," he said. "I felt that we were not treated with the respect we should have been given."

Sheila Phillips, mother of miner Brandon Phillips who was trapped in the mine, said Murray had told the families that the road leading up to the drill sites could not support more than one rig at a time.

"He also said that he could drill a thousand holes and it would not make a difference," said Phillips. But she believes that drilling many holes could have led to finding her son.

Phillips said she didn't go to many of the meetings Murray held for the families, "because I couldn't stand to listen to the man."

Stickler said MSHA does not have the legal authority to control the mine operator's communications with families or the media. In some instances during the rescue efforts, Murray started news conferences without Stickler.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com