Editorial: Probing mine collapse All the safeguards and rules in the world will not help miners unless federal officials are compelled to follow them.

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007 | 6:56 a.m.

Members of a Senate panel blasted the head of the federal mine safety agency this week as they questioned whether the agency provided adequate oversight of Utah's Crandall Canyon coal mine operation or provided sufficient leadership in the ensuing, and failed, rescue effort.

Six miners remain buried and are presumed dead in the mine , which collapsed Aug. 6. Three other workers died and six were injured in a second cave-in that happened during the rescue attempt.

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee opened its hearing on the incident Wednesday by grilling Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Richard Stickler about why the agency issued a permit for dangerous "retreat" mining at Crandall Canyon. The method involves going into previously worked mines and removing the pillars of coal that hold up the ceiling.

Back in March, a "bump," in which the weight of the mountain shifts, forced workers to abandon one section of the mine. But the mine operators allowed excavating to continue in other parts of the mine - with the federal agency's blessing.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said that after 12 workers died in the January 2006 Sago mine collapse in his state, "it is infuriating to watch" federal mine officials "continue a tepid, disjointed and minimizing approach to mine safety."

The Senate panel's hearing included testimony from Stickler and other members of his staff, a representative from the United Mine Workers of America and David McAteer, who headed the mine safety agency during the Clinton administration.

Conspicuously absent from the proceedings was Robert Murray, co-owner of Crandall Canyon mine, who said he was ill and will be interviewed by the Senate panel later .

In the early aftermath of the collapse, it was Murray - not federal mine agency officials - who dominated in the rescue effort and in briefings for workers' relatives and the media. The Senate panel is examining whether Stickler should have, or could have, exerted more control over Murray.

As it was with Sago, it is important to get to the bottom of where this Utah mining operation broke down. But it is even more important to make certain that federal mine safety officials are providing the kind of oversight that will prevent these catastrophes in the first place. All the safeguards and rules in the world will not help miners unless federal officials are compelled to follow them. Tragically, for six miners who remain entombed in a mountain, it is too late.