Utah mine investigation documents should not be public, agency says

[unhappycamper]

Utah mine investigation documents should not be public, agency says

(CNN) -- Court proceedings of the investigation into the collapse of Utah's Crandall Canyon mine should not be made public, argue attorneys for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The records are not typically available to the public, and opening them would inhibit the amount and quality of information that could be gathered in the probe, the lawyers said in documents filed Thursday.

The documents included MSHA's response to a federal lawsuit filed in Utah earlier this week by news organizations, including CNN, The Associated Press, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News.

The suit seeks to stop the investigation into the mine incident until a judge decides whether the proceedings should be open to the public. It also asks for a temporary restraining order to stop investigators from conducting closed proceedings.

The suit also demands that a transcript of all closed hearings be released immediately.

On August 6, six miners were trapped when the Crandall Canyon mine caved in. Their bodies have not been recovered. Three other people, including an MSHA inspector, died as they attempted to rescue the trapped miners August 16.


Rest of article at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/04/mine.collapse.investigation/index.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. why would USers be interested in the failure of MSHA or the owners?

what do we care about safety in the workplace?

[AndyA]

2. What are they trying to hide?

Unsafe working conditions? Neglect on the part of the company involved?

I call bullshit on documents being kept from the public. American companies have proven time and time again that they will do what's right for the company, not the American worker.

Make the docs public, and hold the company owners responsible for their neglect if that is indeed the cause of the accident.

[MasonJar]

3. The Mine Safety organization was culpable for not enforcing safety

regulations. No wonder they do not want the deliberations public.

[struggle4progress]

4. Translation: We didn't do our jobs so it's time to keep secrets

[Vidar]

5. Both the documents & the mine owner's subsequent execution should be public.