For more than two weeks, the tragedy at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah has evoked feelings of optimism and anguish. The nation clung to the hope that each of the six trapped coal miners would be pulled out safely.

With that hope all but vanished, many are demanding answers and calling for accountability — and rightly so.

Experts wonder why the federal agency in charge of mine safety allowed mining at Crandall Canyon at all, "given what it knew about conditions that made the mine particularly unstable," according to the Associated Press.

On Jan. 2, 2006, the deadly Sago mine disaster, which claimed 12 lives, supposedly prompted sweeping changes in the nation's antiquated coal mining laws. The MINER Act promised the largest overhaul of mining regulations in three decades, requiring more breathable air for underground miners, better communications and improved emergency response plans.

But implementation has been unacceptably slow, and a lack of leadership at the federal level has been frustrating, to say the least.

In both cases, the head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration must be held accountable — and therein lies the problem.

The U.S. Senate twice rejected President Bush's nomination of Richard Stickler to head the agency. This was a wise move, considering Stickler is a mining industry insider — which wouldn't be so bad if he had a stellar record, but he doesn't. When Stickler was a senior manager at a West Virginia mine, the injury rate was three times the national average. Mines he managed had a total of 3,000 safety violations.

But those weren't enough to deter the president from putting Stickler in charge of the very agency whose regulations he failed to follow. When Congress left for its recess in October 2006, Bush used his authority to make Stickler the interim head of MSHA without approval.

Since then, regulations have been weakened and the budget and staff for safety inspections have been slashed.

Stickler's appointment expires at the end of the year. Clearly, his record has done nothing to earn him a formal confirmation by the Senate.

What is needed now are real changes that will put safeguarding lives, not production, as the top priority.