Mine-safety panel seeking input today

"I'm sure it's true of Carbon County, too. People are nervous about government maybe making so many rules and regulations that the coal-mining owners are going to say, 'Forget this, we don't even want to do this.' They want to make sure that their jobs and the jobs of coal mines are secure," Gordon said.

The government will have a to walk a "fine line" to make coal mining safer, but without making it too difficult for companies to operate the mines viably and profitably, she added.

Residents of the mining towns "are saying, 'Yeah, we want safety, but we want our jobs, too,"' she said.

How long the panel will take to compile all the pertinent information has not yet been determined, Matheson said. He refrained from putting a timetable on when the commission would be in a position to begin making its recommendations to the governor.

Even so, he believes the panel may be able to make interim suggestions in the coming months, knowing that the Legislature might have some interest in the information the commission will be considering. This would give lawmakers the opportunity to review those recommendations and add their input.

At the commission's first meeting earlier this month, Matheson engaged in a pointed exchange with Jim Crawford, a senior adviser for the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Crawford told the commission that MSHA would try to accommodate the panel's need for information without compromising MSHA's investigation, warning that some specifics might be withheld pending the completion of the probe.

Matheson responded, "There's no interest (by our commission) in compromising your investigation ... but periodic updates and giving us information that you're going to give to the public is not sufficient." He later said the commission would push for full cooperation from MSHA during its investigation, a stance supported by Huntsman.

Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News in a recent interview that he has received assurances from MSHA head Richard Stickler that the agency would be forthcoming with information.

"They'll get what they need," Huntsman said. "I'm confident of that."

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