Laid-off miners consider options

HUNTINGTON — Mine safety is coming at a steep price for Utah's coal country.

Six men are trapped, another three are dead and now 170 men have been laid off at Bob Murray's mines in Carbon and Emery counties. A temporary shutdown of Tower Mine will hopefully buy enough time for him to make the mine safer for its workers.

The Tower Mine is one of the country's deepest mines — at 2,200 feet — and Murray is worried that a seismic event similar to one that trapped six miners in the Crandall Canyon Mine on Aug. 6 could topple its walls, potentially harming other workers.

"Our employees always have been and will be our totally foremost consideration in our mining activities and most especially their safety," Murray said Sunday. "We take our responsibility for them very seriously. No pound of coal is worth ever getting hurt over."

The 170 workers from Murray's Tower and West Ridge mines have until noon today to decide whether to take a job at one of Murray's mines in Illinois or Ohio. He met with workers at the Tower Mine 7 a.m. Sunday to offer alternative job packages to the miners.

The mine, located in East Carbon, was at a standstill following the meeting, with only a few lingering miners standing around discussing their options.

"Everybody understands," said one laid-off miner, who didn't want to be named. "They are a pretty good group of guys. They don't want to see anybody else getting hurt. If it comes down to people losing their jobs then they're OK with it."

If the laid-off workers take Murray's offer for work in other states, they will receive free board, utilities and transportation to the other mines, Murray said. They will work three weeks straight and then can return home to their families in Utah.

"If they choose this, there will be no one laid off and no one will miss a paycheck," Murray said.

Laid-off Denny Erickson, a cousin of Don Erickson, one of the miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon mine, said the option to move is kind of a raw deal because the miners have to pay their own way back to Utah on their week off. He didn't suppose many miners would accept it.

"It's not realistic to leave our community," he said. Erickson's been trying to get out of the industry for a while, since a friend earlier and now a relative have fallen victim to the mines.

"I enjoy it but it's not worth the risk anymore," he said. "I don't know but I think the coal gods are mad at us."