But federal Judge Dee Benson ruled Tuesday in Salt Lake City that the meetings will remained closed, saying he could find no constitutional justification for opening the hearings to the media and the public.

Michael O'Brien, the attorney for the media groups, said Thursday that no decision has been made on whether to appeal the ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, but a decision could come by early next week.

While the battle for access continues, Stickler said, MSHA has ramped up its efforts to make mining safer in the wake of accidents such as the 2006 Sago Mine accident that killed 12 miners in West Virginia.

Congress last year appropriated an additional $25 million for MSHA's budget, he said. Since July 2006, his agency has used part of those funds to hire 273 new coal-mine inspectors, although nearly half of MSHA's inspection staff hasn't completed their certification training.

When asked if compliance with safety requirements could have prevented the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster, Stickler said he didn't think so.

"They had received their regular inspection. There had been a roof-control specialist underground in May," he said.

He said that predicting a roof collapse is often not an exact science, and it would be difficult to always know what could trigger a collapse. Stickler said engineers had submitted reports stating they believed the safety supports inside the mine would provide adequate protection against serious mountain bumps.

"But obviously there is a problem in the system, and that's our job in this investigation to find out," Stickler said.

How mine owner Bob Murray will figure in the MSHA probe is unknown. But Stickler said he hoped Murray would allow his company's public-relations staffers to do their jobs during public appearances, rather than handling them personally, as he did in the initial days following the Crandall Canyon disaster.

Stickler also said he recommended to Murray that he allow MSHA to talk to the families and the media, but his suggestions fell on deaf ears.

"When somebody would put him on the defensive, he would go on the offense, and he would raise his voice at the person who would raise the question," Stickler said. "I said, 'Bob, that's unacceptable, you can't be responding to families that way."'

Following the first few family briefings, Stickler said he decided to distance himself from Murray, asking the local sheriff to prohibit Murray from attending any more family briefings. The local sheriff complied, Stickler said. Since then, Murray has been conspicuously absent.

As for the investigation's future, Stickler said he is confident the MSHA investigation will eventually answer many questions surrounding the Crandall Canyon disaster.

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E-mail: jlee@desnews.com