Although Dalpiaz called Utah's new mine-safety director a "cop without a gun," Gordon and Dmitrich said they are grateful for Garth J. Nielsen's new role. Nielsen was appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. earlier this month.

Though there will be oversight from Nielsen, he has no regulatory control over mines in his position as director of the new Office of Coal Mine Safety.

Dalpiaz was much more blunt about safety concerns at Crandall Canyon: "If that mine would have been unionized, that particular mining practice never would have happened," he said.

The problem these days, Dalpiaz said, is that with a bad economy and an "intimidating" atmosphere that silences some miners, no one will speak up for fear of losing their job. "These guys are just so intimidated," he said.

Davitt McAteer, vice president for sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia and the former assistant secretary for the Mine Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration, said in an interview at the conference that as part of efforts to improve mine safety, the government should work with industry to reduce the obstacles that impede the expedient use of new, potentially life-saving technologies at mine sites.

"The regulatory system is so complicated that even if we have the solution, we can't get it into place," he said.

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