MSHA imposes $1.8M fines for mine collapse

PRICE, Utah, July 24 (UPI) -- The Utah coal mine where nine people were killed last year had major engineering problems that left it "destined to fail," U.S. regulators said Thursday.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration fined Genwal Resources Inc., the operator of the Crandall Canyon mine, $1.6 million, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Agapito Associates, Genwal's engineering firm, was fined $220,000.

Six miners were trapped when the mine collapsed on Aug. 6, 2007. A few days later, another collapse killed three rescuers trying to reach the trapped men and six more were injured.

The MSHA report was released Thursday morning at a hotel in Utah to the families of the men who died in the mine and to the news media and public in the afternoon.

MSHA found that the mine's owners and operators withheld critical information from regulators and then violated the approved mine plan by removing more coal than the plan called for.