2-day work stoppage ends for a Price mine

The 163 coal miners at the West Ridge Mine in Carbon County were breathing a sigh of relief Wednesday following a two-day work stoppage at the mine near Price.

West Ridge is the last Murray Energy-owned mine still operating since the disaster at the Crandall Canyon Mine last August.

On Monday, Murray Energy released a statement that said the company had temporarily idled West Ridge "due to unanticipated geologic conditions resulting in a high percentage of ash content in the coal that is currently being mined."

The company said the mine would be closed for 48 hours while managers reviewed their options and devised a plan to relocate the longwall, the primary production unit, elsewhere in the mine where conditions were more favorable.

"Since the mine has been only temporarily idled, no employees have actually been laid off," the statement said.

Coal with high ash content contains more rock and sediment, and requires more processing to extract the coal used for electricity.

Despite the warning in the statement that there would be no layoffs, the Utah Department of Workforce Services said several miners requested unemployment benefits through the department's Price office on Monday and Tuesday. As it turns out, those workers did so unnecessarily.

"Last night and this morning, they called back all 163 miners," Susan Etzel, manager of the Price DWS office, said Wednesday. "They all went back to the jobs they had."

Murray Energy operates the mine through its subsidiary, Utah American Energy. In a statement, Rob Murray, vice president of Murray Energy, said the mine had resumed full production on Tuesday because the Intermountain Power Agency, which has 50 percent ownership of the mine and buys coal from it, was willing to accept deliveries of the high-ash coal that is currently being mined.

"We are happy that our dedicated, hard-working employees were able to return to work and that there were no layoffs or interruptions in their employment benefits," Murray said.

With West Ridge now back in operation, Murray Energy is also hoping have the nearby Tower Mine back online early next year. The Mine Safety and Health Administration said recently that Tower had met virtually all of the safety requirements necessary to resume operations. The mine was closed in August due to safety concerns regarding deep underground mining in the wake of the Crandall Canyon mine accident, and 170 workers were laid off.

In August, six miners at Crandall Canyon were trapped following a collapse, and three other men lost their lives days later during a rescue attempt.

The Crandall Canyon mine has been closed permanently, and the disaster is under federal investigation.

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