Mining reform on the docket

WASHINGTON — As the state of Utah prepares to hear Tuesday from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration about the Crandall Canyon Mine accident, Congress energized its probe of the tragedy with its subpoena of mine owner Bob Murray.

Beyond the investigations, however, mining-reform legislation pending in Congress may not be finished until next year.

The House and Senate will not call for votes again until the first week of December, and 11 spending bills, tax legislation, conference reports and other measures need to be finished before Congress adjourns for the year.

"It is my experience that things don't work as quickly as you want them too," said Huntington Mayor Hillary Gordon. "I am just glad it is going in a forward direction. It is good to see positive things being done."

After collapses at the Canyon Crandall Mine near Huntington, Emery County, killed nine Utahns — six miners and three rescuers — in August, lawmakers in Washington began work on several bills to address lessons learned from the tragedy, and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. empaneled the Utah Mine Safety Commission to look into it as well.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., says the Senate subpoenaed Crandall Canyon Mine owner Bob Murray late Friday as part of an investigation intended "to get to the bottom of what went on there." Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, was subpoenaed by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee to testify at 10 a.m. Dec. 4 at a congressional hearing on the mine tragedy.

In Utah, the Mine Safety Commission is continuing its attempts to get information about the mine collapses from the Labor Department.

Richard Stickler, the assistant labor secretary in charge of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, has had a death in the family and will not be able to make Tuesday's commission meeting in Salt Lake City as planned. Kevin Stricklin, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety and health, is slated to make the government's presentation in his place, according to the Labor Department.

MSHA had earlier refused to give the Utah commission any Crandall Canyon-related information, citing "grave concerns" that the panel's efforts could jeopardize the Labor Department's own investigation.

In Washington, the second session of the 110th Congress will start in January, picking up mine-related legislation where it left off in December, so bills will not have to be reintroduced.

Among the measures under consideration:

• Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, had introduced a mining safety reform bill before the accident but saw the disaster as a clear illustration for why Congress needs to pass new safety rules.