Bob Murray, owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine, whose collapse has now entombed 6 miners will NOT testify before a Congressional hearing on the collapse.
The hearing is scheduled for today. Via Huffington Post:
The owner of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah where six workers were trapped by a cave-in a month ago will not be appearing at a Senate hearing on mine safety Wednesday in Washington.
A witness list released Tuesday by Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-W.Va.) office said mine owner Robert E. Murray would not attend the hearing. Byrd, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, had earlier invited the mine owner to appear to discuss "The Utah Mine Disaster and Preventing Future Tragedies."
In a statement e-mailed to The Huffington Post, Murray Energy spokesman Rob Moore said "Mr. Murray cannot give the situation in Utah the proper attention it needs if he travels to Washington to testify."
Can’t give it "proper attention"? The search has already been declared OVER and there was no statement from Murray when this was announced and he has dropped from the public view.
There were no public statements Saturday from Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Mining, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine, who was the outspoken face of the rescue operation for the first three weeks, then largely disappeared from public view.
Federal officials became the spokesmen. No one from Murray Mining was present at Friday's news conference.
The Senate needs to issue a subpoena for him to appear. He knows EXACTLY what happened at that mine and HE is responsible. From the incredibly dangerous Retreat Mining
Mine size vs. S.L. Valley Despite Bob Murray's loud denials, his company is on record with the Utah Geological Survey that removing pillar supports has been going on in his Crandall Canyon mine since 2005 - under the former owners as well as under Murray.
Michael Vanden Berg, who writes the annual coal report for the Utah Geological Survey, said Tuesday that when he visited the Crandall Canyon mine in February while preparing the 2007 report, mine operators told him they would be "pulling pillars" with a continuous mining machine in the Hiawatha coal seam for the next few years.
While the report doesn't prove this type of "retreat" mining caused the collapse that trapped six men in Emery County, company has yet to paint a complete picture of the type of work being done in the mine.
To the insistence that an Earthquake caused the collapse despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Seismologists now definitively say the collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine caused a seismic event, and no earthquake occurred, despite owner Robert Murray's insistence Tuesday that a quake caused the mine collapse that trapped six miners.
Rafael Abreu, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, said Tuesday that a 3.9 magnitude event recorded at 2:48 a.m. Monday didn't have wave forms characteristic of a typical naturally occurring earthquake.
"What we are seeing is a mine collapse," Abreu said.
Earlier in the day, seismologists disagreed with Murray's assessment, leaning toward a hypothesis that the mine collapse caused the seismic event instead of an earthquake causing the collapse.
In a lengthy and defensive statement Tuesday morning, Murray said he had proof the seismic event was an earthquake and not the collapse.
" He said he had information from both the University of Utah and the U.S. Geological Survey giving definitive numbers on the depth and location of the seismic event, both of which were too far south and too deep to be the mine.
However, U. and USGS officials said they did not release any such information because it wasn't available early Tuesday.
So, it looks like he may have even LIED misspoke to cover up it. The hearing is at 10:30 am today. There is still time to call or fax the committee members to let them know that Bob Murray needs to be held accountable for this disaster. The Appropriations Committee members are listed below along with their phone numbers:
DEMOCRATS
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) [Chair] Phone: 202-224-3954 Fax: 202-228-0002
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) Phone: 202-224-3934 Fax: 202-224-6747
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) Phone: 202-224-4242 Fax: 202-224-3479
Tom Harkin (D-IA) Phone: 202-224-3254 Fax: 202-224-9369
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) Phone: 202-224-4654 Fax: 202-224-8858
Herb Kohl (D-WI) Phone: 202-224-5653 Fax: 202-224-9787
Patty Murray (D-WA) Phone: 202-224-2621 Fax: 202-224-0238
Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) Phone: 202-224-2551 Fax: 202-224-1193
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Phone: 202-224-3841 Fax: 202-228-3954
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) Phone: 202-224-2152 Fax: 202-228-0400
Tim Johnson (D-SD) Phone: 202-224-5842 Fax: 202-228-5765
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Phone: 202-224-5824 Fax: 202-224-9735
Jack Reed (D-RI) Phone: 202-224-4642 Fax: 202-224-4680
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Phone: 202-224-3224 Fax: 202-228-4054
Ben Nelson (D-NE) Phone: 202-224-6551 Fax: 202-228-0012
REPUBLICAN MEMBERS
Thad Cochran (R-MS) [Ranking Member] Phone: 202-224-5054 Fax: 202-224-9450
Ted Stevens (R-AK) Phone: 202-224-3004 Fax: 202-224-2354
Arlen Specter (R-PA) Phone: 202-224-4254 Fax: 202-228-1229
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) Phone: 202-224-6621 Fax: 202-228-0900
Kit Bond (R-MO) Phone: 202-224-5721 Fax: 202-224-8149
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Phone: 202-224-2541 Fax: 202-224-2499
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) Phone: 202-224-5744 Fax: 202-224-3416
Judd Gregg (R-NH) Phone: 202-224-3324 Fax: 202-224-4952
Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) Phone: 202-224-5444 Fax: 202-228-1168
Larry E. Craig (R-ID) Phone: 202-224-2752 Fax: 202-228-1067
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) Phone: 202-224-5922 Fax: 202-224-0776
Sam Brownback (R-KS) Phone: 202-224-6521 Fax: 202-228-1265
Wayne Allard (R-CO) Phone: 202-224-5941 Fax: 202-224-6471
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Phone: 202-224-4944 Fax: 202-228-3398
Robert Murray shouldn't be allowed to hide!!
UPDATE: SENATE HEARING
Robert Byrd opening statement to Dick Stickler: "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG AT MSHA!"
UPDATE II: SENATE HEARING
Stickler acknowledges that mine collapse caused seismic event, not earthquake.