Should the owner of the Utah coal mine face criminal charges?

No

1 of 4

by Christopher H. Stevens

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

The ongoing efforts to rescue or recover the missing miners in the Utah coal mining incident have been frustrating to watch. Days have seemed to slip by with little or no progress, and recently the additional tragedy of the loss of several rescue workers. This is certainly a nightmare for the families of the missing miners, as the hours and days go by with little or no news as to the fate of their loved ones.

That being said, it is certainly too early to fully determine the entire cause, and liability, if any, related to this incident. What we do know is this; mining is an inherently dangerous undertaking. The mine owners, the families, and the miners themselves know this. Anytime you begin to carve out the earth, venture deep inside with heavy machinery, and attempt to support the weight of all the ground above there are a multitude of things that can go wrong.

Certainly, mining operations carry insurance for situation like this one. The loss of lives and equipment is an ever present possibility. Without a doubt, there will be some degree of financial recovery for the families of the missing miners.

As for criminal liability, that is a different story altogether. Without all of the facts is is simply too early to make that determination. In order to apply criminal charges, one would have to prove that the owners of the mine operation knowingly and recklessly put those men into a situation that was above and beyond the reasonable dangers of mining. One would have to show that the owners conspired to not disclose known risks to the men, again above and beyond the inherent dangers of this type of operation. It would have to be illustrated that the owners had some sort of foreknowledge of impending collapse, impending seismic activity, or impending failure of support systems within the mine itself. We know no such thing at this point.

Criminal charges in a case like this are generally unlikely. Compare this to the firefighters that lost their lives on September 11, 2001 responding to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Firefighting, like mining, is a dangerous job. Going into a burning skyscraper, like going into a mine, is inherently dangerous. Would you hold the New York Fire Department criminally responsible for the loss of employees? They sent their men into a building that was structurally compromised, and had additional failures in communication with those men. As a result, lives were lost. It is the nature of the work that is dangerous, and the risks are known to the workers themselves.

These types of incidents generally serve as learning opportunities to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. Other than that, the nation, like the families of the missing miners will have to wait for news, and ultimately, the final determination of exactly what went wrong.

Learn more about this author, Christopher H. Stevens.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.