CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The nation's top mine safety regulator promised Wednesday to discipline federal employees for lax oversight of the Utah coal operation where nine workers died in a massive mine collapse a year ago.

But Richard Stickler, chief of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said he first needs to review testimony of MSHA officials who spoke to an independent team that investigated the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster.

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Richard Stickler, chief of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"For me to hold individuals accountable, I've got to have answers to those questions," Stickler said in an interview during a stop in Charleston.

Late last week, Stickler caused a stir when word leaked that he had asked his bosses at the Department of Labor for transcripts of the independent team's interviews.

Critics, including one of the independent review's leaders, alleged that Stickler wanted the transcripts to figure out what MSHA employees told the team about him, and perhaps to retaliate against them.

"The only motivation I can see is to find out who said those things or to confirm that they were said," Earnest Teaster, one of two retired MSHA employees who led the independent review, said late last week.

Six miners were entombed by the Aug. 6, 2007, collapse while working in the extremely deep mine in central Utah. Ten days into a rescue effort, a second major collapse killed three rescue workers, including a federal mine inspector. MSHA halted all rescue efforts on Aug. 31.

Last month, MSHA fined mine operator Murray Energy a record $1.6 million for "high negligence" and "reckless disregard." Agency officials cited major engineering deficiencies, overly aggressive mining practices and a disregard for signs that warned of the mine collapse.

The same day MSHA issued its investigation report, the Labor Department released the independent review. The review concluded that sloppy mining plan reviews, lax inspections and a disorganized rescue effort contributed to the deaths.

But the 147-page report also painted a very negative picture of Stickler and his actions during the ill-fated rescue that killed three workers, including an MSHA inspector.

MSHA personnel told the review team that they were never asked their opinions about the operation, and were made to feel uncomfortable in voicing their opinions.

But Richard Stickler, chief of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said he first needs to review testimony of MSHA officials who spoke to an independent team that investigated the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster.

Stickler said the independent review raised serious questions about the actions of MSHA officials who approved the Murray Energy mining plan and later inspected the mine.

"For me to hold individuals accountable, I've got to have answers to those questions," Stickler said in an interview during a stop in Charleston.

Late last week, Stickler caused a stir when word leaked that he had asked his bosses at the Department of Labor for transcripts of the independent team's interviews.

Critics, including one of the independent review's leaders, alleged that Stickler wanted the transcripts to figure out what MSHA employees told the team about him, and perhaps to retaliate against them.

"The only motivation I can see is to find out who said those things or to confirm that they were said," Earnest Teaster, one of two retired MSHA employees who led the independent review, said late last week.

Six miners were entombed by the Aug. 6, 2007, collapse while working in the extremely deep mine in central Utah. Ten days into a rescue effort, a second major collapse killed three rescue workers, including a federal mine inspector. MSHA halted all rescue efforts on Aug. 31.

Last month, MSHA fined mine operator Murray Energy a record $1.6 million for "high negligence" and "reckless disregard." Agency officials cited major engineering deficiencies, overly aggressive mining practices and a disregard for signs that warned of the mine collapse.

The same day MSHA issued its investigation report, the Labor Department released the independent review. The review concluded that sloppy mining plan reviews, lax inspections and a disorganized rescue effort contributed to the deaths.

But the 147-page report also painted a very negative picture of Stickler and his actions during the ill-fated rescue that killed three workers, including an MSHA inspector.

MSHA personnel told the review team that they were never asked their opinions about the operation, and were made to feel uncomfortable in voicing their opinions.

One staffer said that Stickler threatened to fire him if he didn't write down the distance the rescue had advanced underground precisely the way Stickler wanted it recorded.

One employee said, "Everybody got fired there at least once." Another said Stickler threatened to "fire us all. It wasn't just me. It was fire us all and get more players, if we couldn't get it in that book the way he wanted it."

The independent review concluded, "Stickler's interaction with the MSHA employees on-site during the rescue operation created an environment that hindered the communication process. This may have led to valuable information not being shared with the persons in charge."

During Wednesday's interview, Stickler referred to a weekend Salt Lake Tribune story about his request for the independent review transcripts as "some yackety-yak in the press." He called any suggestion that he wanted to retaliate against employees who criticized him "nonsense."

Stickler said that MSHA should never have approved Crandall Canyon's mining plan and failed to properly investigate an earlier mine collapse in March. Also, Stickler said, the MSHA district involved was not properly investigating all complaints of mining hazards, as required by federal law. One MSHA supervisor involved has already retired, but disciplinary action is likely against several other agency officials, Stickler said.

"Our responsibility as an agency is to determine why those things happen," Stickler said. "I understand people can make honest mistakes, but sometimes people also don't do what they know they should have done."

Labor Department spokesman David James said earlier this week that the agency would not make the independent review transcripts available to the public, for fear of interfering with a potential criminal investigation.

Stickler said his agency was to meet this week with the local U.S. attorney, but he did not know if MSHA had formally referred the matter to prosecutors.

Davitt McAteer, who ran MSHA during the Clinton administration, said Stickler's reasons for wanting the transcripts don't hold water.

"The report and its conclusions were fully clear as to the inadequacies, and there is no need to go into those transcripts, particularly in that they were in effect addressing issues about [Stickler's] conduct," McAteer said Wednesday evening.

But if Stickler has the transcripts, McAteer said, they need to be made more broadly available. "This can't be a selective release to Richard Stickler."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.