Dacotah Cement

Plain-English summary

Dacotah Cement’s civil penalty case returned to Judge Irwin Schroeder after a June 9, 2004 Commission decision affirmed part of an earlier ruling and vacated another part. The parties reevaluated the record and proposed a settlement that reduced the violation’s gravity, changed the classification from permanently disabling to no lost workdays, removed the significant-and-substantial designation, and deleted Robert Rohrbach from Line 15. Judge Schroeder approved the settlement as consistent with the Mine Safety Act and the public interest. Dacotah Cement was ordered to pay a $2,500 civil penalty within 30 days, after which the petition would be dismissed.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standards: None stated in this order.
• Outcome: Settlement approved, the citation was ordered amended, and the petition was to be dismissed after payment of the $2,500 penalty.
• Key point: On remand, the judge approved a lower-gravity settlement that removed the S&S designation and reduced the penalty.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES

601 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Suite 9500

Washington, DC 20001

July 27, 2004

SECRETARY OF LABOR, MINE SAFETY : CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDING
AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION :
(MSHA), : DOCKET No. CENT 2001-218-M
Petitioner, : A.C. NO. 39-00022-05547
:
v. : Mine: Dacotah Cement
:
DACOTAH CEMENT, :
Respondent :

ORDER APPROVING SETTLEMENT

This case is before me on Remand from a Decision by the Commission dated June 9,
2004, in which the Commission affirmed in part and vacated in part a Decision I made on July
31, 2002. At my request, the parties have reevaluated the factual record involved in my decision.
The parties have reached a settlement agreement that they have jointly submitted for my
approval. Under the proposed agreement, the Secretary concludes that the violation that was the
subject of the Petition was of a lower gravity than originally alleged. The lower gravity requires
modification of the citation to substitute "No Lost Workdays" for "Permanently Disabling" and
to eliminate the classification of the violation as "Significant and Substantial." The Secretary
also agreed to delete "Robert Rohrbach" from Line 15. The parties have agreed that the proposed
Civil Penalty for the violation as amended should be $2,500.00. I have reviewed the proposed
Settlement and I find it is consistent with the Mine Safety Act and it is in the public interest.
Therefore, it is

ORDERED that the joint motion to approve settlement is granted. The Secretary is
directed to amend the citation as agreed to by the parties. The Respondent is directed to pay a
Civil Penalty of $2,500.00 within 30 days of the date of this Order. The parties are to bear their
own costs. Upon receipt of the Civil Penalty directed by this Order, the Petition is DISMISSED.

Irwin Schroeder
Administrative Law Judge

Distribution:

Edward Falkowski, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, 1999 Broadway,
Suite 1600, P.O. Box 46550, Denver, CO 80201-6550
Donald P. Knudsen, Esq., Gunderson, Palmer, Goodsell & Nelson, P.O. Box 8045, Rapid City,
SD 57709-8045