CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal investigators later this week will issue their long-awaited report on the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster in Utah, just weeks short of the one-year anniversary of the first of two collapses that killed nine workers.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said Monday it would make its investigation report public on Thursday. As is the agency's custom, MSHA plans to first provide the report to victims' families, and answer family members' questions during a private meeting.

MSHA officials scheduled a news conference to discuss the report with Utah media, and they plan to post the findings on the agency Web site, www.msha.gov.

Six miners died in the initial collapse on Aug. 6, 2007, at the Murray Energy operation near Huntington, Utah. Ten days into a rescue effort to reach the trapped miners, three rescuers - including a federal mine inspector - were killed in a second collapse. The initial collapse was believed to be caused by a "bump," or a blowout of mine walls and roof supports caused by increased weight from the ground above. At the time of the collapse, Murray Energy was removing coal from roof supports left behind in the 2,000-foot-deep-mine.

Earlier this year, separate reports by Senate and House committees harshly criticized Murray Energy's safety practices and poor oversight by MSHA. A third review, by the Labor Department's Inspector General, found MSHA officials were "negligent" in various aspects of their enforcement, including approval of the mine's roof control plan.

U.S. Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Labor Committee, asked for a criminal investigation of the disaster by the U.S. Justice Department.

Crandall Canyon was the third mine "disaster" - defined by MSHA as a single accident that kills five or more workers - in a 19-month period in 2006 and 2007. The deaths of 12 workers at the Sago Mine in January 2006 was the first U.S. coal-mining disaster since September 2001. Before that, the last coal-mining disaster was in December 1992, when eight miners died in an explosion in southwestern Virginia.

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

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said Monday it would make its investigation report public on Thursday. As is the agency's custom, MSHA plans to first provide the report to victims' families, and answer family members' questions during a private meeting.

MSHA officials scheduled a news conference to discuss the report with Utah media, and they plan to post the findings on the agency Web site, www.msha.gov.

Six miners died in the initial collapse on Aug. 6, 2007, at the Murray Energy operation near Huntington, Utah. Ten days into a rescue effort to reach the trapped miners, three rescuers - including a federal mine inspector - were killed in a second collapse. The initial collapse was believed to be caused by a "bump," or a blowout of mine walls and roof supports caused by increased weight from the ground above. At the time of the collapse, Murray Energy was removing coal from roof supports left behind in the 2,000-foot-deep-mine.

Earlier this year, separate reports by Senate and House committees harshly criticized Murray Energy's safety practices and poor oversight by MSHA. A third review, by the Labor Department's Inspector General, found MSHA officials were "negligent" in various aspects of their enforcement, including approval of the mine's roof control plan.

U.S. Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Labor Committee, asked for a criminal investigation of the disaster by the U.S. Justice Department.

Crandall Canyon was the third mine "disaster" - defined by MSHA as a single accident that kills five or more workers - in a 19-month period in 2006 and 2007. The deaths of 12 workers at the Sago Mine in January 2006 was the first U.S. coal-mining disaster since September 2001. Before that, the last coal-mining disaster was in December 1992, when eight miners died in an explosion in southwestern Virginia.

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