On May 8, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, released the results of a nine-month committee investigation into the collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah. In the memorandum summarizing the investigation, Miller reveals that he sent a letter of criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recommending the agency investigate the mine's general manager.

The committee's staff began an investigation in late August 2007, shortly after the mine collapse that entombed six miners and led to the deaths of three rescue workers ten days later. In the memo to committee members, Miller outlined the events that led to the collapse, how the staff conducted the investigation, and its conclusions. The staff reviewed about 400,000 pages of documents and interviewed officials from the mining companies involved with Crandall Canyon, officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and family members of those who were killed in the collapse, among others.

As part of the investigation, the committee took depositions in January from three MSHA officials and tried to depose three employees of the mine operator, including Laine Adair, the general manager of the Crandall Canyon mine. Adair works for Utah-American Energy Inc., which operated the mine and is a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corporation, the owner of the mine. All three employees of the mine operator invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. In February, the committee sought depositions from Robert Murray, president of Murray Energy, and Bruce Hill, president of Utah-American. Both men invoked their Fifth Amendment right as well. Other private sector employees also refused to sit for depositions.

The committee hired its own independent engineering consultants to review the roof control plan submitted to MSHA by Utah-American and approved by the agency in June 2007. At the time MSHA approved the plan, the agency was still inspecting the mine's roof. The inspection began in May 2007 and had not been completed at the time of the August collapse.

A roof control plan is required to detail the stability of a mine's roof and walls where mining operations take place. MSHA must approve the plan in order for work to proceed. According to Miller's memo, the consultant's report questioned the sufficiency of the plan MSHA approved for the Crandall Canyon mine and was highly critical of MSHA's actions leading up to the August incident.

The committee investigation concluded that both the mine operator and MSHA should have realized that the roof control plan was inadequate and that it was unsafe to engage in high-risk retreat mining. In March 2007, another collapse in a section of the mine only about 900 feet away from where the miners died should have been a signal that it was unsafe to conduct retreat mining and that the supporting pillars were unstable. Although no one died in the March collapse, the operator was required to report the incident to MSHA.

In his referral letter to DOJ, Miller questioned the honesty and completeness of the mine operator's report to MSHA. Miller's letter indicated that Adair and other managers not only knew about the March collapse and did not report it as required by regulations, but once they did tell MSHA about the March incident, they "significantly downplayed" its extent.

According to a May 9 article in The Salt Lake Tribune, the U.S. attorney for Utah, Brett Tolman, received Miller's referral letter, dated April 28, and takes Miller's request "very seriously." Miller is asking the office to investigate whether charges should be brought against Adair.

Miller wants Tolman's office to investigate whether Adair "individually or in conspiracy with others, willfully concealed or covered up" or made "false representations" to MSHA officials about the March 2007 collapse. Those reporting errors would be a violation of federal law and could warrant criminal prosecution by DOJ. Had MSHA known of the full extent of the March collapse, it might not have approved the roof control plan.

MSHA is conducting its own investigation of the causes of the August collapse but is still a few months away from finishing it, according to the Tribune article.