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Miners' Families Vent Anger to Lawmakers
One rep blasts Feds, calls Utah collapse 'preventable'
By Neal Colgrass
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Posted Oct 3, 07 7:50 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Families of 6 dead miners expressed anger and heartbreak to lawmakers today, blaming lax safety for the Utah mine collapse. Relatives said miners were afraid to speak up and continued working until the August 2 collapse. One lawmaker blasted a mining safety agency and called the incident a "preventable tragedy," CNN reports.
He also said that requests to Washington and the Murray Energy Corporation for documents have been ignored. "They have yet to comply with many of the basic requests for information," said lawmaker George Miller. He further slammed the Feds for cutting relevant staff and hiring coal industry officials to oversee the industry.