By JODI WESTRICK
Observer Staff
OCT. 4, 2007

Framed photographs of loved ones crowded the table as family members of the victims lost in the August mining disaster at Utah’s Crandall Canyon urged a House committee to create better regulation for mining practices Wednesday.

The House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony from five family members who called for better communication in a time of crisis from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, as well as the need for more unionized mines to protect workers from dangerous working environments.

On Aug. 6, six miners were trapped 1,500 feet underground after the Huntington, Utah, mine collapsed. Their bodies have not been recovered and all six are presumed dead. Three more workers were killed in a rescue effort Aug. 16. Bob Murray, mine co-owner, announced Aug. 23 that the mine would be closed, preventing further rescue efforts.

The testimony comes a day after the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions learned Bureau of Land Management inspectors reported serious structural problems at the mine three years earlier.

Wendy Black, wife of Dale Black, one of the miners killed while trying to rescue the trapped workers, testified that shortly before the collapse her husband confessed the mine was “hitting the Richter scale” and he was nervous about working there. She said her husband also operated machines he normally was not responsible for during the rescue because others miners were afraid to go into the mine.

“I have so many unanswered questions about the rescue,” Black said. “Who in their right mind would send rescuers underground while the mine was still bouncing, then go from the top when they had no idea what this would do to the stability of the mine or the miners?”

Other family members noted the lack of communication from mine officials and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Mike Marasco, son-in-law of Kerry Allred, one of the trapped miners, said Murray reassured families at the beginning of the disaster that they would work relentlessly to find the miners, but that he now “seems to have lost interest.” According to Marasco, translators were also unavailable for the first few days of the rescue, making it impossible for Hispanic families to understand any of the updates provided by the mine.

“I felt we were not treated with the respect we should have been given,” Marasco said. “We were just told what they thought we wanted to hear and not the facts.”

Steve Allred, brother of Kerry Allred, suggested that a unionized mine through the United Mine Workers of America would have allowed miners to withdraw from the mine for safety reasons, preventing the tragedy.

Committee members sympathized with the families and promised to create legislation that would prevent a similar tragedy from happening in the future.

“Thank you for your courage and tenacity,” Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said. “Stay bold. Stay courageous. It will be your courage that will make it positive for the next generation.”

Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., suggested miners be provided with more reliable tracking devices that would work underground, making it easier to find them in the event of another tragedy.

“We can put someone on the moon and we’re on our way to other planets, but was can’t find these miners,” Payne said.

Committee members also heard testimony from Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts, Wayne Holland of the United Steelworkers Association and Bruce Watzman, vice president of the National Mining Association Wednesday afternoon.

Family members thanked the committee for their continued help and urged them to create stronger legislation to spare other families from the pain of a similar tragedy.

Sheila Phillips, mother of Brandon Phillips, another one of the trapped miners, held her grandson as she testified before the committee.

“It’s hard to have hope and to watch your grandson grow up without a dad,” Phillips said.

“I just miss him,” Phillips said. “I would like to know where my son is in that hole.”