Charges announced in deadly Utah mine collapse

Two family members pause at the casket of Gary Lynn Jensen after his burial in Redmond, Utah, on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007. Jensen was killed on Aug. 16, 2007, trying to rescue six trapped miners in the Crandall Canyon Mine. / AP Photo/George Frey

(AP) SALT LAKE CITY - Misdemeanor criminal charges have been filed and fines levied against the operator of a Utah mine where a 2007 collapse killed six miners, two rescuers and a federal inspector, federal prosecutors said Friday.

U.S. Attorney David B. Barlow said the mine operator, Pepper Pike, Ohio-based Genwal Resources Inc., an affiliate of Murray Energy Corp, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of violating mandatory health and safety standards and pay a $500,000 fine.

Six miners died at Crandall Canyon in the August 2007 collapse so powerful that it initially registered as a 3.9-magnitude earthquake. Another cave-in 10 days later killed two rescuers and a federal inspector.

The operation was eventually called off after drilling into the mountain found no sign of the trapped men. Their bodies remain deep in the mine's catacombs in central Utah.

In documents filed in federal court in Salt Lake City Friday, Genwal attorneys note that while it has agreed to plead guilty to the charges and pay the fine, should the court not accept the plea, the company can withdraw the agreement.

"These are serious offenses that merit the maximum penalty," Barlow said in a statement. "We recognize that nothing we can do will ever bring back the miners who perished, restore the health of those who were injured during the rescue, or erase the nightmares that still haunt those who were firsthand witnesses to these tragedies. It is this office's intent that these charges send the message to mining companies everywhere: obey the safety laws."

[angelofurnightmare]

This is ridiculous! Those men died in a horrible act by the company. $5000,000 is nothing to the people who own these companies...I vote we drop them in a hole followed by some explosives. Its sickening because its probably cheaper for them to pay these small fines than it is to ensure the safety measures to protect those who risk it everyday for a job!

[tb1980]

If your Rich just a slap on the hand and a fine.If your what they call, little people then you go straight to jail! Look at all the Wall Streeters and Banks,CEO's,Corporate big wigs.Not a one of them has ever had any charges filed against them.Never will, when its a double standard in this country!White collar,thats alright,Blue collar,rot in prision!They dont even care,its in our faces.We are special,your not!

[mryoubrian]

Once again this proves my point- if you are rich and/or a CEO and you kill people, you just pay a fine and move on with your life.

If you are blue collar middle class and kill half a dozen people....then you go to prison.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

It is this office's intent that these charges send the message to mining companies everywhere: obey the safety laws."
---

Then why are they only misdemeanor charges?

[micmac666]

To paraphrase Bob Dylan, "Money doesn't talk, it screams."