August 23, 2007 (LPAC)--On August 23 the Senate Appropriations sub-committee announced that they have set a hearing for the day after the chamber resumes session Sept 5, into the Utah mine disaster which trapped (and killed) 6 miners and has killed three rescue workers. The witnesses will be Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration; Bob Murray, the co-owner of the Utah mine, and Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers of America.

Jack Spadaro, former director of the government academy that trains mine safety inspectors, said on MSNBC that Richard Strickler should be held responsible for the cave-in and the deaths of the rescue workers, since he had to approve of the mining operations and the rescue plan. Spadaro said that the miners were conducting what is called "retreat mining," where the coal that is holding up the mine is taken out after the main vein is finished - a very dangerous method which is nonetheless legal under the current MSHA regulations. (Mine owner Murray has denied engaging in retreat mining.)

It should be remembered that MSHA chief Richard Strickler was a Bush recess appointment in 2006, after the then-Republican controlled Congress rejected his nomination. Senator Byrd of West Virginia put a hold on his nomination and Congressman George Miller of California, now Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, wrote letters calling on President Bush to pull Strickler's nomination. Senator Byrd and Congressman Miller both said at the time that Strickler was unqualified, particularly rejecting Strickler's claim that existing safety rules were adequate and no changes were needed. This was soon after a mine disaster in West Virginia (see EIR Feb. 10 2006, "West Virginia Coal Crisis a Matter of Criminal Negligence?")