Mine owner may testify in Senate

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 8, 2008 | by Suzanne Struglinski Deseret Morning News

WASHINGTON -- Murray Energy Corp. head Bob Murray's name appears on the witness list for a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday, but now it is a waiting game to see whether lawmakers actually will get to question the outspoken mine operator about the accident at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Emery County last year.

The Senate Appropriations Committee staff says Murray is scheduled to testify, but Murray Energy Corp. Vice President Rob Murray said via e-mail that the company has no comment on the scheduled hearing and refused to confirm whether Murray will appear.

The Senate Appropriations' Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee has been trying to get Murray to appear before it since it held the first congressional hearing on the accident on Sept. 5, just weeks after a collapse in August trapped and eventually killed six miners. A subsequent collapse killed three rescuers.

Murray Energy said at the time that Bob Murray was still handling the aftermath of the accident and could not come. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., hinted at the use of a subpoena at the hearing.

The subcommittee ultimately agreed to issue the subpoena in November, and Murray was schedule to come for a December hearing, but it was postponed and eventually rescheduled for Thursday.

Thursday's witness list includes Murray and Elliot P. Lewis, assistant inspector general for audit in the Labor Department's Inspector General Office. Lewis signed the IG report issued last week that blamed the Mine Safety and Health Administration for negligence leading up to the collapse.

Immediately following the Crandall Canyon hearing, the same subcommittee will have another hearing looking at the "Status of Efforts to Improve Mine Safety and Health," including MSHA head Richard E. Stickler; John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; J. Davitt McAteer, a former MSHA head; Cecil Roberts, international president of United Mine Workers of America; and Bruce Watzman, vice president of the Safety and Health National Mining Association in Washington, D.C.

E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com