Criminal Probe Into Mine Deaths Sought

Federal prosecutors should open a criminal investigation into the deaths of nine people in a Utah mine collapse last year, a leading House Democrat said yesterday.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said he made a criminal referral to the Justice Department on the August 2007 collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine.

"I was concerned that the mine operator may have willfully misled MSHA about information that could have affected MSHA's decision to approve the mining plans," he said.

The U.S. attorney's office in Utah said it will take Miller's request "very seriously."

Kevin N. Anderson, a representative of the mining company, called Miller's announcement "deplorable."