Mine Safety Chief Faces More Scrutiny

Richard Stickler, left, head of the federal Mining Safety and Health Administration, and Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., depart a news conference concerning rescue efforts for six trapped miners Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine northwest of Huntington, Utah. Rob Moore, a top executive of the company that co-owns the collapsed Crandall Canyon Mine said Sunday that it's likely the six miners missing for nearly two weeks inside the mountain may never be found.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (Rick Bowmer - AP)

WASHINGTON -- As hopes for a rescue dim at Utah's collapsed Crandall Canyon Mine, critics looking for someone to blame are focusing on the stern-faced director of the government agency that oversees coal mine safety.

Members of Congress, union officials and worker advocates were skeptical before the Aug. 6 accident that Richard Stickler was dedicated enough to worker safety.

The former mine executive faced so much opposition when he was appointed to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration, President Bush had to bypass critics and install him during a congressional recess last October.

Now all three groups are pointing out mistakes they say Stickler has made in handling attempts to rescue six trapped miners. The situation grew more grim last week when three rescue workers were killed in a subsequent cave-in.

Stickler's career at MSHA will be defined by the Crandall Canyon accident and his next big decision: whether to call off the rescue effort and entomb the six missing miners forever.

"I wouldn't want to be in his shoes," said Davitt McAteer, who headed MSHA during the Clinton administration and now is vice president of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia.

Critics think any investigation of the accident will ultimately ask why MSHA signed off in June on a mining plan for the area where the collapse occurred.

Experts have said the terrain there was already risky for the type of mining the operators wanted to do. Concerns about the roof's stability after a cave-in damaged another part of the mine in March made MSHA's approval even more questionable, they say.

Stickler probably never saw the Crandall Canyon mining plan, critics say.

But the mine workers union and others say Stickler has failed to change the climate at MSHA from one of "really coddling mine operators," said Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America, which opposed Stickler's appointment and is calling for an independent investigation of the accident.

"What we're not seeing is a change in culture," Smith said. "I think the Crandall Canyon incident reflects that."

MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere has said the agency will thoroughly investigate the accident _ including MSHA's possible role _ when the rescue is complete.