Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Jericol Mining Incorporated
Fifteen settlements approved and one denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for 16 violations, reducing the total proposed penalties from $7,723 to $5,994. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for 15 citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reduction for Citation No. 4470153, which…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Five settlements approved and two denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for seven violations, reducing the total penalties from $3,411 to $2,830. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for five citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reductions for a citation involving coal brows…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Settlement disapproved pending support
Jericol Mining and the Secretary jointly proposed reducing penalties for two violations from $5,700 to $2,298. One matter involved a disconnected methane monitor on a continuous mining machine, and the other involved loose ribs along a haulage roadway. Judge Paul Merlin rejected the settlement…
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company
Case dismissed after citation vacated
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Bailey Mine was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding involving one alleged violation. Judge Paul Merlin allowed an MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative to represent the Secretary under the Commission's regulations. MSHA later vacated the citation…
Homer City Coal Processing Corporation
Settlement approved and penalty reduced
Homer City Coal Processing Corporation was cited after fine coal and float coal dust accumulated below a conveyor in its preparation plant. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $94 to $63 and reducing negligence from moderate to low. Judge Paul Merlin found the settlement appropriate…
Tanoma Mining Company, Incorporated
CLR appearance accepted and prehearing order issued
Tanoma Mining Company was defending a civil penalty proceeding involving the Tanoma Mine. The Secretary's filing was presented by an MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative, or CLR, rather than an attorney from the Solicitor's Office. Judge Paul Merlin allowed the CLR to represent the…
Rox Coal Incorporated
CLR appearances accepted and prehearing orders issued
Rox Coal Incorporated was defending four civil penalty proceedings involving the Diamond T B Mine. The Secretary's petitions were presented by an MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative, or CLR, rather than an attorney from the Solicitor's Office. Judge Paul Merlin allowed the CLR to…
Consolidation Coal Company
CLR appearance accepted and prehearing order issued
Consolidation Coal Company was defending a civil penalty proceeding involving the Dilworth Mine. The Secretary's filing was presented by an MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative, or CLR, rather than an attorney from the Solicitor's Office. Judge Paul Merlin allowed the CLR to represent the…
Cyprus Emerald Resources Corporation
Citation modified and $252 settlement approved
Cyprus Emerald Resources Corporation was cited after a continuous miner operator stood inside the chain conveyor while cleaning and servicing the machine without removing and tagging out the trailing-cable power. Judge Paul Merlin accepted the MSHA Conference and Litigation Representative's…
North American Slate Incorporated
Settlement approved and penalty reduced to $20
North American Slate operated the Bush Quarry and faced a $50 penalty because required health and safety inspection records were not being kept. The Secretary explained that the mine operated intermittently, was small, and had recently opened, which reduced the assessed negligence. Judge Paul…
Eugene Russell, Ervin E. Nichols, James M. Dodd, Reynold E. Channer, and Scott Furman employed by Echo Bay Minerals Company
Echo Bay Minerals Company employees (FMSHRC WEST 94-623-M): Assignment request denied
The Secretary filed civil penalty petitions against five Echo Bay Minerals Company employees under section 110(c) of the Mine Act. Their counsel asked the judge to decide a motion to dismiss for untimeliness before the cases were assigned, arguing that the judge assigned to a related operator case…
Mid-Continent Resources Incorporated
Citation vacated and case dismissed
Mid-Continent Resources' civil penalty case returned to the ALJ after a Commission order. The Secretary moved to vacate the one violation and withdraw the penalty petition. Judge Paul Merlin granted the motion, vacated Citation No. 3410440, and dismissed the case.
Long Branch Energy
Late penalty petition accepted
The Secretary filed a civil penalty petition 52 days after the deadline. Long Branch Energy moved to dismiss, arguing that the delay prejudiced its ability to defend against an unguarded trolley-wire citation because the mine area had been abandoned. The judge found adequate cause for the late…
KYN Coal Company Incorporated, et al.
Operators ordered to address stays
The ALJ considered a group of respirable-dust citation proceedings involving several coal operators. Some cases had been stayed pending related Commission proceedings concerning altered respirable-dust samples and expert testimony. The Secretary asked to lift some stays and leave other cases…
Southwestern Portland Cement Company
Stay and expedited-hearing motions denied
Southwestern Portland Cement challenged an unwarrantable-failure citation and asked for an expedited hearing. The Secretary sought a continuance until the related penalty proceeding was filed. The ALJ denied the continuance and the request for an expedited hearing, finding that the operator had not…
Eastside Rock Products
Default ordered with $406 penalty
Eastside Rock Products did not answer the civil penalty petition after receiving orders directing it to respond. The ALJ found that the operator had received the orders and had not submitted an answer. The operator was held in default and ordered to pay $406 immediately.
Keystone Coal Mining Corporation
Respirable-dust proceedings stayed
The ALJ considered a motion to stay proceedings alleging intentional alteration of respirable-dust cassettes. Related cases were pending before the Commission on appeal. The judge stayed the cases in Master Docket No. 91-1 that were not on appeal because the Commission's decision could affect the…
KYN Coal Company Incorporated
Stay proposed in respirable-dust proceeding
KYN Coal Company faced civil penalties based on allegations that respirable-dust samples had been invalidated by removing dust from the samples before submission. Because a related master docket involved alleged tampering of respirable-dust cassettes and could provide guidance, the ALJ proposed…
Benevento Sand and Gravel
Citations affirmed with modifications
Benevento Sand and Gravel, a small quarry and mill operator, faced eight citations and orders involving truck alarms, seat belts, a loader passenger, a conveyor guard, and other equipment conditions. Judge Paul Merlin affirmed the fact of each violation and most significant and substantial and…
J & S Collieries, Inc.
Discrimination settlement approved
Herbert Collins brought a Mine Act discrimination complaint against J & S Collieries after his employment ended. Judge Paul Merlin approved a settlement under which the company paid Collins $5,000, expunged related personnel records, and agreed to provide only neutral employment information to…
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc.
Settlement approved and $50 penalty ordered
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc. faced one civil penalty proceeding involving the alteration of an accident scene at the Cannon Mine. After the judge initially disapproved the parties’ settlement and requested more information, the operator explained that MSHA had approved moving the equipment and that…
Secretary of Labor v. Husky Coal Company, Inc.
Solicitor ordered to explain paid assessment
The Solicitor moved to dismiss the civil penalty proceeding because Husky Coal had paid a revised penalty assessment. The motion did not identify the revised amount or explain why the payment satisfied the Mine Act. Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul Merlin reminded the Solicitor that the…
Oglebay Norton Taconite Company
Part 50 injury-reporting settlement approved
Oglebay Norton Taconite Company faced 53 citations across four dockets for failing to report mine-site injuries that were reportable under Part 50 of the regulations. The parties explained that 45 injuries were treated later and did not cause lost time, while eight caused lost time and should have…
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc.
Settlement reduction rejected for lack of support
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc. and the Secretary asked the judge to approve a reduction of a methane-ignition penalty from $157 to $20. Judge Paul Merlin rejected the proposed settlement because the parties gave no reasons for the reduction and did not explain how the amount met the six statutory…
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc.
Accident-scene settlement reduction rejected
Asamera Mineral (US), Inc. and the Secretary asked to reduce a $100 penalty to $50 for allegedly altering an accident scene before MSHA could investigate. Judge Paul Merlin rejected the settlement motion because it did not describe how the scene was altered, the effect of the alteration, or the…
USX Corp, Minnesota Ore Operations
Penalty corrected and $800 overpayment refunded
USX Corporation had paid a $5,767 assessment in LAKE 92-399-M-A, including an $800 penalty for Citation 3892662. A later settlement decision also included that citation and reduced its proposed penalty to $311, so the operator asked to reopen the matter after discovering the duplication. Judge Paul…
Concrete Materials
Settlement approved for substation fence citation
Concrete Materials was cited because the fence around an electrical substation was below the required six-foot height and had rips and tears. The Secretary proposed reducing the penalty from $690 to $50 and deleting the significant-and-substantial designation because the fence was only slightly…
Consolidation Coal Company
Sanitation citation modified in settlement
Consolidation Coal agreed to settle one citation alleging that a bathroom at its preparation plant was not maintained in sanitary condition. The proposed settlement reduced the original $227 penalty to $175 and modified the citation to make the likelihood of injury unlikely and remove the…
Asarco Incorporated
Penalty case stayed pending contest appeal
Asarco answered the Secretary's civil-penalty petition and asked to consolidate it with a related notice of contest pending before the Commission in WEST 92-624-RM. Judge Paul Merlin denied consolidation because the penalty matter had not yet been heard or decided at the trial level. He stayed the…
Consolidation Coal Company
Partial settlements approved at $599 and duplicate citations dismissed
Consolidation Coal Company resolved part of an eleven-violation docket involving its Dilworth Mine. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for five violations totaling $599. Four other citations were dismissed because they duplicated citations already included in docket PENN 91-1462. A prior…
Consolidation Coal Company
Four violations settled for $937 with two citation modifications
Consolidation Coal Company agreed to settle four violations at its Dilworth Mine. The original penalties totaled $1,086, and the approved settlement required payment of $937. Judge Paul Merlin reduced the injury classification for the untagged power-circuit plug citation from fatal to permanently…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and order modified
Consolidation Coal agreed to settle six alleged violations at its Osage No. 3 mine. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement, which reduced the total penalties from $1,725 to $1,052. The company agreed to pay the originally assessed penalties for five violations, while Order No. 3718027 was…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and negligence reduced
Consolidation Coal agreed to settle two violations involving equipment at its Arkwright No. 1 Mine. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement, kept the originally assessed penalty for one citation, and modified the other citation by reducing negligence from moderate to low. The total proposed…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and multiple citations modified
Consolidation Coal agreed to settle 18 alleged violations at its Arkwright No. 1 Mine, including three citations that were also being contested. Judge Paul Merlin approved a settlement reducing the total penalties from $4,380 to $2,677. Three citations were modified to reduce the likelihood of…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved for $684
Consolidation Coal agreed to settle two alleged violations at its Dilworth mine. Judge Paul Merlin reviewed the parties' representations and documentation and found the settlement appropriate under the Mine Act's section 110(i) criteria. The originally assessed penalties and the proposed settlement…
Consolidation Coal Company
Employee-hour reporting violations affirmed with $1,200 penalty
Consolidation Coal was cited for overreporting employee hours on its quarterly employment and coal production reports. Judge Paul Merlin treated the case as controlled by an earlier summary decision involving the same issue and found that summary decision was appropriate because no material fact…
Conn Pest Control Incorporated
Refresher-training settlement approved at $150
Conn Pest Control was cited because a miner had not received the required annual refresher course. The Secretary explained that the operator's negligence was lower than initially believed because it was uncertain whether the operator knew the miner had not been trained. Judge Paul Merlin approved…
Western Sand & Gravel
Settlement approved at $192
Western Sand & Gravel operated the Tenino Pit and faced a proposed civil penalty of $431. The parties jointly asked the judge to approve a settlement reducing the penalty to $192. Judge Paul Merlin found the reduction appropriate in light of the operator's small size and negligible history. He…
Western Sand & Gravel
Ten-violation settlement approved at $642
Western Sand & Gravel faced ten civil penalty violations at its Tenino Pit. The parties proposed reducing the total penalties from $738 to $642, with nine citations settled at their original $50 amounts and the remaining penalty reduced from $288 to $192. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement…
Baxter R. Neece, formerly employed by H B & B Equipment Co. Inc.
Settlement approved
The Secretary sought civil penalties against Baxter R. Neece, a former maintenance foreman, and proposed reducing the assessed penalties from $2,950 to $500. The Solicitor stated that Neece was unemployed and likely lacked authority to prevent or correct the violations found during preshift…
Jefferson Materials Company
Settlement approved
MSHA assessed $1,200 in civil penalties against Jefferson Materials Company for violations at its Howitt Plant. The proposed settlement reduced the total to $960, an across-the-board 20 percent reduction, even though the violations were characterized as highly likely to result in a fatality. Judge…
James Kosiba, Employed by Rensselaer Stone Co. Inc.
Settlement approved
MSHA alleged that an electrical circuit supplying the crushing plant's main power control center lacked overload protection. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement of the one violation for the originally assessed penalty of $500. The respondent paid the penalty, and the matter was dismissed.
K Y V Coal Company, Inc.
Settlement approved for ventilation and dust-control violation
MSHA alleged that K Y V Coal was not complying with its ventilation and dust-control plan because water-spray pressure was below the required level. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement for the originally assessed penalty of $903. He found the penalty appropriate for the serious violation…
Kern Rock Company
Settlement approved for $1,449
Kern Rock faced civil penalties arising from conditions at the Wheeler Ridge Pit & Mill. The Solicitor proposed reducing the penalties from $1,610 to $1,449 because the original assessments did not adequately account for good-faith abatement. Judge Paul Merlin found the settlement appropriate under…
Montana Resources
Late filing accepted and settlement approved
The judge accepted the Solicitor's unopposed late filing of the penalty petition. The underlying matter involved a broken electrical conduit on the side of a conveyor belt that exposed employees to possible electrical shock. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement for the originally assessed…
Basin Asphalt Company
Citation modified and penalty reduced in settlement
Basin Asphalt and the Secretary proposed settling a civil penalty proceeding for a citation issued at the Moses Lake Pit & Plant. The settlement reduced the penalty from $362 to $181 and removed the significant-and-substantial designation from Citation No. 3644310. Judge Paul Merlin approved the…
Basin Asphalt Company
Citation modified and penalty reduced in settlement
Basin Asphalt and the Secretary proposed settling a civil penalty proceeding for a citation issued at the Moses Lake Pit & Plant. The settlement reduced the penalty from $362 to $181 and removed the significant-and-substantial designation from Citation No. 3644317. The parties also advised that…
Harlan-KYVA Coal Inc.
Five penalty cases settled for $5,682
Harlan-KYVA Coal faced five civil penalty proceedings with proposed penalties totaling $9,370. The parties proposed reducing the penalties to $5,682 based on the operator's financial condition. Judge Paul Merlin relied on accounting reports showing a deficit in stockholder equity and a net…
Concrete Materials
Settlement rejected and additional information ordered
The Solicitor asked to reduce a proposed civil penalty from $690 to $50 for a citation involving a fence around an electrical substation. The citation stated that the substation had exposed energized high-voltage components and that contact might result in a fatality. Judge Paul Merlin denied the…
Power Operating Company, Incorporated
Motions to dismiss denied
Power Operating Company moved to dismiss two civil penalty cases, arguing that the Secretary filed the penalty petitions late and served them improperly. The Judge found adequate cause for the 24-day filing delay because of the sharp increase in contested cases and found no prejudice to the…
Consolidation Coal Company
S&S findings vacated, orders affirmed, and $2,700 assessed
MSHA issued three withdrawal orders at Consolidation Coal Company's Osage No. 3 Mine after ventilation tubing for underground electrical installations had fallen and was not coursing air directly to the return. The parties stipulated to the violations and related case facts. Judge Paul Merlin found…
Livingston Marble & Granite
Late penalty filings accepted and cases assigned
Livingston Marble & Granite moved to dismiss four civil penalty proceedings, arguing that the Secretary filed the penalty proposals too late. Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul Merlin denied the motion. He found adequate cause for delays of 46 to 60 days in three dockets and no showing of…
Fisher Sand & Gravel Company
Late penalty filing accepted
The Secretary filed a civil penalty petition about two weeks late after the case was sent to the Solicitor's office on August 11, 1992. Fisher Sand & Gravel Company moved to dismiss, pointing to the delay in proposing penalties after citations issued in August 1991 and claiming that witnesses and…
Wharf Resources USA Incorporated
Late penalty filing accepted
The Secretary filed a civil penalty petition 15 days late after a delay in sending the case to the Solicitor's office. Wharf Resources USA Incorporated moved to dismiss, also arguing that the penalty assessment had not been proposed within a reasonable time after the citation. Chief Administrative…
Carder Incorporated
Settlement approved, citations modified, and penalty reduced to $474
Carder Incorporated operated Crusher Operation #2. The Secretary of Labor sought civil penalties for five citations. Judge Paul Merlin found that relief from Carder's default was warranted and approved the parties' settlement. The order modified Citation Nos. 3451182, 3629194, 3629195, 3629196, and…
Carder Incorporated
Default vacated and settlement approved for $359
Carder Incorporated had been placed in default in a civil penalty proceeding involving its Screening Operation #2. After the Commission directed further proceedings, Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul Merlin found that relief from default was warranted. He approved settlements reducing the…
Cimetta Engineering Contractors
Discrimination complaint dismissed for failure to respond
Bruce A. Williams filed a discrimination complaint under section 105(c) of the Mine Act against Cimetta Engineering Contractors. The Commission asked Williams to provide additional information, but he did not respond to the request or to a later show cause order, which was returned as unclaimed…
Stoneway Concrete
Penalty proceeding dismissed after settlement dispute
Stoneway Concrete failed to answer the Secretary's civil penalty proposal, then sent a letter stating that the matter had been settled and enclosed a $131.50 check. The Solicitor did not respond to the judge's order to file a settlement motion or explain why the case should not be dismissed. Judge…
Klamath Pacific Corporation
Penalty petition dismissed after repeated failure to respond
Klamath Pacific Corporation was the respondent in a civil penalty proceeding concerning its Stukel Mt. Crusher & Wash Plant. After the Commission remanded the case, Judge Paul Merlin ordered the parties to confer about settlement and directed the Solicitor to report the result. The Solicitor did…
Stoneway Concrete
Penalty proceeding dismissed for failure to prosecute
Stoneway Concrete requested a hearing in a civil penalty matter, but the Solicitor did not file the penalty petition. The judge's law clerk and the Commission's Docket Office reminded the Solicitor to file it, and a later order directed the Solicitor to show cause why the case should not be…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, the Environmental Appeals Board at EPA). These are citable as precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by the agency's Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.
- Why finality matters: Every page here says which kind of decision you are reading, so you know whether it is precedent you can cite or a final order that only shows how one judge ruled on one set of facts.
- Where they come from: Every page links the official public release from the deciding agency, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.