February 14, 2009 05:30 PM Eastern Time

UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. Seeks to Implement Plan to Maximize Safety in West Ridge Mine

EAST CARBON, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. and its subsidiary, Andalex Resources, Inc., a co-owner of the West Ridge Mine with Intermountain Power Agency, are totally committed to ensuring the safety of its employees at the West Ridge Mine. As such, it has been working closely with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to assess conditions at the Mine following three minor “mountain bumps” during the last week of January. One miner sustained minor injuries when he fell during a bump, not as a result of being hit by bursting coal, as has been reported.

Since the review of mine conditions began, mining consultants to the Company expert in longwall mining in Utah have disagreed with MSHA on its approach to ensuring employee safety at the Mine. After MSHA twice ordered the West Ridge Mine longwall shut down, forcing the layoff of employees, the Company engineered and installed a remote mining system that allowed the longwall to continue limited operations. This was voluntarily developed by the Company, and not ordered by MSHA, as mistaken press reports have claimed. Even though the automated system has been working and all employee safety has been provided, the longwall is idled again, as MSHA has directed the Company to stop mining immediately at the next crosscut, pull the longwall out, and move to another panel which is not available.

The Company’s engineers and experts believe that removing the longwall at the location directed by MSHA would be very dangerous. Our experts believe that MSHA’s order, directed from Washington, D.C., by a senior agency representative, who has no actual mining experience with longwall mines in Utah, and who has been given incorrect information from MSHA representatives at the Mine site, will jeopardize the safety of its employees.

Dr. Syd S. Peng, the world renowned expert in longwall mining, including the deep cover mines, supports the Company in saying that it is safer for the West Ridge Resources employees to mine the remainder of the longwall panel rather than to recover the longwall in the current location, as mandated by MSHA officials in Washington, D.C. Dr. Peng goes on to state that “based on the current conditions in the tailgate and considering the success of the Company’s remote mining system, I believe the safety of the miners is better served by continued mining.” Other Company consultants support this position.

“Shutting down operations and forcing implementation of certain plans is an abuse of discretion and a capricious use of supervisory authority by MSHA,” said Kevin Anderson, an attorney for the Company. “We are getting advice from some of the best geo-technical people in the world, as well as from our miners who have worked in western mines their entire lives. Their opinions are in stark contrast to those of regulators in Washington D.C. who have no western mining (deep cover) experience.”

According to Anderson, the Company regrets that it has no other option than to seek legal remedy. “Our primary concern is the safest mining plan to protect our miners. Our other concerns are that our employees have been, and are continuing, to be left without a paycheck because the Mine has been idled due to this arbitrary decision making by an MSHA official in Washington, which is contrary to the advice of the world’s best geo-technical experts.”