Yet another report showing the Crandall Canyon mine collapse could have been prevented was released today. The House Education and Labor Committee, led by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), released the report after months of investigation. The disaster at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah killed six miners and three rescue workers in August 2007.

The report, like two other reports released in March, finds that both the mine's operator and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are to blame.

In March 2007, four months before the disaster, a different collapse, or bump, occurred at a nearby part of Crandall Canyon mine. According to the report, officials managing mine operations and officials at Murray Energy, the mine's owner, new of the March incident but failed to report it to federal regulators — a direct violation of federal rules. The report states, "It is quite possible that, had MSHA known the full severity of the March bump," MSHA would not have allowed the mine to continue operations.

But MSHA still bears responsibility. MSHA was informally made aware of the March bump, but claims the mine's operators "downplayed" its significance. Regardless, MSHA foolishly approved (under intense pressure from the mine's operators) a plan for the company to conduct retreat mining at Crandall Canyon. Retreat mining is a dangerous technique in which miners remove support pillars in order to intentionally collapse areas of the mine no longer in use.

Because the mine's officials ignored federal law, Miller has referred them to the Justice Department for further investigation:

Last month, I sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, recommending that it investigate whether the mine's general manager, Laine W. Adair, individually or in conspiracy with others, willfully concealed or covered a material fact or made materially false representations in a matter under the jurisdiction of the executive branch, specifically MSHA…

Visit the committee's website to download the report and learn more.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop regulations to protect workers from the hazards of combustible dust. The bill comes largely in response to a dust explosion in February that killed 14 workers at a Georgia sugar refinery. Because of his overwhelming disdain for federal protections in the workplace, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill.

For more on why the bill is necessary, and for a brief recap of the floor debate, visit the Pump Handle blog: "House Passes Combustible Dust Bill"

Yesterday, the Department of the Interior proposed rolling back regulations that prohibit people from carrying loaded guns in national parks, according to the Associated Press. The decision comes in response to pressure from the National Rifle Association and conservative Senators from both parties who believe the current ban on loaded guns in parks is "confusing." (The fact that a ban on guns in parks is "confusing" for members of the nation's highest legislative body is another disturbing issue that will not be discussed here.)

Dollars to donuts, the proposed change will be finalized before President Bush's term expires, in the fear the next administration may not be as friendly to the gun lobby. While most regulations take years to develop, the rollback on the gun ban is moving faster than a speeding bullet. The rule change was not included in the most recent Unified Agenda (the semiannual listing of completed or planned regulatory actions), meaning it may be a relatively new undertaking for the Interior Department. The first public word only surfaced in late February.

Those who want to lift the 25-year-old ban say that park-goers have a right to defend themselves. Of course, as Bill Wade of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees says, "This is purely and simply a politically driven effort to solve a problem that doesn't exist." The AP article goes into more detail:

There is no data to suggest that the public would be served by allowing visitors to parks to possess concealed handguns, Wade and other critics said. They cited statistics showing that national parks are among the safest places in the country. The probability of becoming a victim of a violent crime in a national park is 1 in more than 708,000 - less likely than being struck by lightning, the groups said.