Green River Coal Company (ALJ decision, June 9, 1989)

Plain-English summary

Green River Coal Company faced consolidated civil penalty proceedings involving Mine No. 9 under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. At the hearing, the parties first proposed reducing the penalties from $7,100 to $5,400 and changing two section 104(d)(1) orders to section 104(a) citations. Judge William Fauver approved part of that proposal, received evidence on the two orders, and then approved an amended settlement that kept the orders in place and set the total payment at $6,800. The citations and orders were affirmed, and Green River was ordered to pay the approved penalties within 30 days.

Decision snapshot

• Governing provisions: 30 U.S.C. §§ 801, 814(a), and 814(d)(1)
• Outcome: The settlement was approved, all citations and orders were affirmed, and $6,800 was assessed.
• Key point: After receiving evidence on the two section 104(d)(1) orders, the judge approved an amended settlement that preserved those orders and set the total penalty at $6,800.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

CCASE:
SOL (MSHA) V. GREEN RIVER COAL
DDATE:
19890609
TTEXT:

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Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (F.M.S.H.R.C.) Office of Administrative Law Judges

SECRETARY OF LABOR,
CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDINGS
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION (MSHA),
Docket No. KENT 88-174
PETITIONER
A. C. No. 15-13469-03670

v. Docket No. KENT 88-183
A. C. No. 15-13469-03671
GREEN RIVER COAL COMPANY,
RESPONDENT
Docket No. KENT 89-3
A. C. No. 15-13469-03683

Docket No. KENT 89-11
A. C. No. 15-13469-03684

Mine No. 9

DECISION

Appearances: Joseph B. Luckett, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, Department of Labor, for the Secretary of Labor;
B. R. Paxton, Esq., Paxton and Kosch, P.S.C. for Green River Coal Company.

Before: Judge Fauver

These consolidated proceedings were brought by the Secretary of Labor for civil penalties under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.

At the beginning of the hearing the parties moved for approval of a settlement that would have included reduction of the proposed penalties from $7,100 to $5,400 and changing two 104(d)(1) orders to 104(a) citations.

The settlement was approved in part and denied in part.
Testimony of the federal mine inspector and documentary evidence from the government were then received concerning the two 104(d)(1) orders. Further discussions on and off the record led to an amendment to the settlement motion to propose settlement at the original assessments for the two 104(d)(1) orders without changing the orders and total payment of $6,800. The amended motion was approved in a bench decision. This Decision confirms the bench decision.

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ORDER

WHEREFORE IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The citations and orders involved in these proceedings are AFFIRMED.

2. Respondent shall pay the approved civil penalties of $6,800 within 30 days of this Decision.

William Fauver
Administrative Law Judge