Agencies failed to share (Utah) mine concerns

[Poiuyt]

Agencies failed to share mine concerns, panel told

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
*One agency noted problems at Crandall Canyon mine 3 years before collapse
*Concerns weren't passed on to another agency, which OK'd mining there
*Senator compares situation to FBI, CIA not communicating about terrorists
*Mine collapse August 6 trapped 6 miners; 3 rescuers died trying to save them

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bureau of Land Management inspectors noted serious structural problems at Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine at least three years before two roof collapses killed nine people in August, Congress was told Tuesday.

Yet the government's mine safety agency in another agency -- the Labor Department -- didn't know of the concerns about Crandall Canyon until after the accident, Kevin Stricklin, a coal mine safety and health administrator for Labor, told a Senate hearing on the accident.

The Labor Department had approved a plan to mine there.

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Documents released by Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee showed that in November 2004 a BLM inspector noted that pillars of coal, which were holding up the mine's roof, were failing. The inspector, Stephen Falk, said that further mining by pulling out the pillars would be "untenable."

That the mine operators "had thoughts and plans to try pillar recovery was wishful thinking and was more wanting to extend mine life," Falk wrote.

more -

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/02/mine.collapse.hearing.ap/index.html