House Grants Deposition Authority to Education and Labor Committee for Crandall Canyon Investigation  

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution today granting the House Education and Labor Committee the authority to take witness depositions as part of the Committee’s investigation into the deaths of nine men at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah in August 2007.

The Committee began an investigation into the Crandall Canyon disaster soon after it occurred. The Committee already had the authority to subpoena documentary evidence and to compel witnesses to appear at Committee hearings, but it required the full House to grant it deposition authority for the investigation. While not unprecedented, the granting of deposition authority is rare.

“I am pleased that the House has provided the Education and Labor Committee with this critical tool for getting to the bottom of what went wrong at Crandall Canyon. The families of the miners who died deserve to have a full and independent investigation into this awful disaster, and this step will help us to accomplish that,” said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and the sponsor of the resolution.  

“The committee already has the ability to obtain documentary evidence by subpoena. But to conduct a thorough investigation, we also need to have the ability to compel witnesses to testify at depositions,” said Miller. “We need to know who knew what, when they knew it, and how they came to know it. We need to know about face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations they had. Emails and memos are important, but they will only tell a part of the story.”

The Education and Labor Committee met on Wednesday afternoon to adopt rules governing the use of the deposition authority. To see the text of the Education and Labor Committee rule governing the use of the deposition authority, click here.

To see the text of Miller’s resolution, click here.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853