Mine Collapse. Reason no miners found. They wouldn't be behind engineered collapse.

The miners, as the "Boss Hogg" land barron knows, were engaging in a risky mining practice involving semi-controlled collapses. There won't be any miners in the voids deeper from the collapse because the risky mining practice REQUIRES them to be on the mine entrance side when the collapse is engineered.

J

What kind of person thinks a semi-controlled collapse is a real good idea?

When the mine shaft is created, they cut out "rooms" held up by "pillars" of coal. When the coal seam is exhausted, they go back out and remove the pillars of coal in a systematic way making sure that the miners are on the exit side of the pillars. When the pillars are removed, the unsupported mineshaft will collapse, but supposedly the workers are safe.

Murray has claimed that they absolutely positively WERE NOT doing this and that it was an earthquake that caused the collapse. Seismologists have determined beyond the shadow of a doubt that the seismic waves were caused by the collapse and that a natural earthquake did not initiate the collapse.

I think Murray's early denials of this unsafe practice as well as his absurd continued insistence on an earthquake are akin to him playing poker with his cards exposed.

That they need to widen that whole and send Murray down to find the miners. The only way he comes back out is if he finds them. Alive.

Seems fair to me.

Imagine you have just finished devouring a small child, but somehow you feel unsatisfied. So you devise a method to scrape the last tiny morsels from under your finger nails. That's retreat mining.

act of greed. He's just another Blame God First capitalist.

Murray has been out there in an attempt to "muddy the waters" for any future (and anticipated) lawsuit challenge. He's also muzzling the family members (and I wouldn't be surprised if he were bribing them) to keep them from talking to the media about the controlled collapse technique.

J

Not being a smart-ass....I'm curious..

that is the implication.

I really think these miners are unfortunately dead. Probably more of the mine collapsed than was planned and they died in it. Also, wasn't the oxygen level below liveable standards from one of the probes they drilled in? Still I hope there is a miracle.

The Crandall Canyon mine collapse happened while miners were engaged in a method called "retreat mining," in which pillars of coal are used to hold up an area of the mine's roof. When that area is completely mined, the company pulls the pillar and grabs the useful coal, causing an intentional collapse.

It is "the most dangerous type of mining there is," said Tony Oppegard, a former top federal and state of Kentucky mine safety official who is now a private attorney in Lexington, Ky., representing miners.

According to the American Society of Safety Engineers, retreat mining requires very precise planning and sequencing to ensure roof stability while the pillars supporting the roof are removed.

The reason the practice is used is that it pays off: The last bit of coal taken from pillars is pure profit, Oppegard said. Plus, if someone violates rules during pillar removal and there is a collapse, the evidence of rule violations are gone, he said.

Retreat pillar mining is one of the biggest causes of mine roof collapse deaths, according to studies done by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080601257_pf.html

You'd think at some point people would grow tired of putting other people in harm's way.

That's why they don't put *themselves* in harm's way.

It's ok to put *other* people in harm's way, as long as they aren't family or friends.

Kind of like Mitt not wanting his kids in Iraq, but they do their service to their country helping him become President.

As for doing a job an American won't do, in the coal mining industry this must be one of those jobs..