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As the Democratic Presidential race slogs on into the mining state of West Virginia, a new report suggests that the 2007 mining disaster in Utah could have been prevented. Jesse Russell reports:

The New York Times reported on Thursday that according to details of a Congressional investigation into the Crandall Mine disaster in August of 2007 the mine’s general manager, Laine Adair hid information from federal mining officials and issued false statements. The report says that Adair possibly withheld the information in conspiracy with other senior staff at the mining company. Adair failed to report a previous mine collapse five months prior to the collapse which took nine lives. Additionally, in 2004 the Federal Bureau of Land Management made notes that the land where Crandall mine is located was unsafe. The company was conducting a dangerous operation called “retreat mining” when the collapse occurred. A bill passed throught the House but currently languishing in the Senate would require that mines conduct in-depth reviews of plans before retreat mining is allowed.