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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Warrior Coal, LLC
Two penalty contests remanded for good-cause findings
Warrior Coal sought relief concerning two proposed penalty assessments. It said it timely mailed a contest covering 17 citations in one assessment, while a holiday shutdown and temporary clerical staffing caused it to miss the deadline for the other. The Secretary did not clarify whether the first…
Long Fork Coal Company
Failed law-firm email sent for a good-cause decision
MSHA proposed penalties for three citations issued to Long Fork Coal Company. The company faxed the assessment to its law firm, where a paralegal tried to email a scanned copy to the responsible attorneys. Unspecified technical problems prevented delivery, no contest was filed, and the error was…
Road Fork Development Company, Inc.
Failed law-firm email sent for a good-cause decision
MSHA proposed penalties for 12 citations issued to Road Fork Development. The company faxed the assessment to its law firm, where a paralegal tried to email a scanned copy to the responsible attorneys. Unspecified technical problems prevented delivery, no contest was filed, and the error was…
CW Electric
Entity-name assumption sent missed contest for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for two citations issued to CW Electric, a contractor. The company intended to contest the assessment but neither filed a contest nor paid the penalties because it believed MSHA would reissue the assessment to a differently named entity. CW Electric did not explain the basis…
Jeppesen Gravel
Sixteen violations upheld with penalties reduced to $1,482
Jeppesen Gravel was a very small, seasonal Iowa sand-and-gravel operation run by its owner and his son. MSHA issued 16 citations involving rollover protection, seatbelts, conveyor guarding, electrical hazards, berms, a missing fire-warning sign, harassment of an inspector, and denial of inspection…
Currituck Sand, Inc.
Crossed filing assumptions sent reopening request for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for four citations issued to Currituck Sand, Inc. The pit manager believed the company's counsel would file the penalty contest, while counsel believed Currituck had already filed it, so no contest form was submitted. The Secretary did not oppose reopening. The Commission…
ICG Hazard, LLC
Clerical misunderstanding sent two assessments for good-cause review
ICG Hazard received two proposed penalty assessments and forwarded them to the safety and health director for its parent company. The director decided to contest certain penalties, but clerical personnel misunderstood the instructions and did not return the contest forms to MSHA. The Secretary did…
District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
In re District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 05-02, 07-10, 07-11, and 07-12): reconsideration denied
EPA Region 3 issued the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority a permit for the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant. After the EAB denied review in part and remanded in part, WASA asked the Board to reconsider its ruling on the permit's total nitrogen limit and the Region's responses to…
Alex Energy, Inc.
Unfinished safety-director review sent seven penalties for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for 17 citations issued to Alex Energy, Inc. The company's former safety director marked seven penalties for a recommended contest and arranged payment of the other ten, but he did not consult counsel or complete the seven contests. The omission was discovered about two…
Wabash Mine Holding Company
Separate-contest mistake sent three penalties for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for three citations issued to Wabash Mine Holding Company. Wabash had contested the underlying citations, but a new employee in the safety director's office did not understand that the proposed penalties required separate contests and believed they were already covered. The…
Cagle's, Inc.
Waste trailer was a confined space despite its intended use
Cagle's used a trailer to hold carbon dioxide-treated waste breading at its Alabama poultry plant. Two employees died of asphyxiation after entering the trailer, and OSHA cited the company for failing to inform employees of the permit-required confined space. After an Eleventh Circuit remand, the…
Iron Mountain Quarry, LLC
Separate assessment for one citation sent for good-cause review
Iron Mountain Quarry timely contested penalties for six citations issued during an August 2007 inspection. It later learned that a separate assessment covered another citation from the same inspection and had become delinquent. The operator said it intended to contest that citation, had no record…
U.S. Silica Company
Mailed contest not received sent assessment for good-cause review
MSHA issued a proposed penalty assessment to U.S. Silica Company. The company said it mailed a contest, but MSHA's Civil Penalty Compliance Office had no record of receiving the form. The Secretary did not oppose reopening. The Commission remanded the assessment for the Chief Administrative Law…
Interwest Construction & Development, Inc.
Claimed mailed contest remanded for good-cause review
MSHA issued a proposed penalty assessment to Interwest Construction & Development, Inc. Interwest said it sent a contest form about eleven days later, but MSHA reported that it never received the contest and that the penalties were delinquent. The Secretary did not oppose relief. The Commission…
Calmat Company, d/b/a Vulcan Materials Company, Western Division
Contest sent to the wrong MSHA office remanded for good-cause review
MSHA assessed Calmat Company, doing business as Vulcan Materials Company, for an order and a citation. Vulcan said it timely sent its contest form to MSHA's local Western District office in California instead of the designated office in Virginia, and it supplied a return receipt from the California…
Lafarge North America, Inc.
Receipt-date confusion sent late contest for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for eleven citations issued to Lafarge North America, Inc. Lafarge filed a contest four days after the assessment became a final order, stating that an internal mistake and confusion about the assessment's receipt date delayed processing. The Secretary did not oppose relief…
D’Allessandro Corporation
Unprotected 5½-foot trench led to a serious citation
D’Allessandro Corporation employees entered a trench in South Boston to cut an existing pipe and install a fitting. OSHA measured the vertical-sided trench at 5½ feet deep where the employees were working, and the Type C soil was adjacent to a heavily traveled road. The company disputed the…
Nelson Quarries, Inc.
Mixed rulings on 100 citations produced a corrected $10,650 penalty
Nelson Quarries operated five portable limestone quarries in Kansas, and MSHA issued 100 citations and orders after a former employee filed a hazard complaint. Judge Richard W. Manning affirmed, modified, and vacated citations involving explosives, guarding, mobile equipment, electrical systems…
Fern Valley Excavating, Inc.
All items vacated because the company was not the employer
Fern Valley Excavating was engaged in excavation contracting and landscaping. OSHA investigated an accident at an Ohio jobsite, and the threshold issue was whether Fern Valley employed the workers at the site on the accident date. The judge found that it did not. All four citation items were…
Bandmill Coal Corporation
Assessment sent to affiliate's counsel remanded for good-cause review
MSHA proposed penalties for one citation and three orders issued to Bandmill Coal Corporation. Bandmill's safety director intended to send the assessment to the company's counsel but mistakenly included it with two assessments for an affiliate that went to different counsel. The affiliate's counsel…
Twentymile Coal Company
Reopening denied for unexplained failure to file seven contests
MSHA proposed penalties for 33 citations and orders issued to Twentymile Coal Company's Foidel Creek Mine. A processing error delayed payment of the 26 penalties the company did not contest, and Twentymile sought reopening to contest the remaining seven. Its request explained the late payment but…
Cemex, Inc.
Traveling safety director's delayed review remanded for good-cause determination
Cemex received a proposed penalty assessment addressed to its plant manager, who forwarded it to the safety director. The safety director was traveling during most of August, September, and October and did not learn of the assessment until after the contest deadline. MSHA rejected his later hearing…
Pederson Brothers, Inc.
Assessment mailed to former address remanded for good-cause review
Pederson Brothers notified MSHA that its legal address had changed after six citations were issued. MSHA later sent the proposed penalties by certified mail to the former address, where no one could sign for or forward them, and Pederson learned of the assessment only when a collection letter…
Panther Mining LLC
Delayed receipt of 80-citation assessment sent contest for timeliness review
MSHA issued an assessment covering 80 citations to Panther Mining LLC. Panther said it did not receive the assessment until more than a month after issuance, and the returned form indicated that it sought to contest 35 penalties about six days after the claimed receipt date. The Secretary did not…
Thomas Torrance
Claimed mailed personal-liability contest remanded for timeliness review
MSHA proposed a personal civil penalty against Thomas Torrance under Mine Act section 110(c) based on an order issued to his employer, Buzzi Unicem, USA. Torrance said he mailed a contest within 30 days, but MSHA reported that it never received the form and later sent a delinquency notice. The…
Matter of Juan Carlos RIVERA-VALENCIA
A court-martial judgment is an immigration conviction
The Board reviewed a Salvadoran lawful permanent resident's appeal from an Immigration Judge's removal order. The respondent had been convicted by a general court-martial of carnal knowledge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Immigration Judge treated that judgment as a conviction…
SCP Investments, LLC
Secretary ordered to justify excluding operator from quarry inspection
MSHA issued 12 citations after inspecting SCP Investments' new rock-crushing facility and ordered managing partner Pat Stone off the property because he lacked Part 46 training. Judge Jerold Feldman noted that Mine Act section 103(f) gives an operator representative the right to accompany an…
San Jacinto River Authority
In re San Jacinto River Authority (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 07-19): petition dismissed after permit terms withdrawn
The San Jacinto River Authority challenged conditions in an NPDES permit issued by EPA Region 6, including whole effluent toxicity testing, E. coli limits, copper monitoring, and sampling requirements. The Region withdrew all of the contested permit conditions and planned to prepare permit…
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Cope Station
In re South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Cope Station (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 06-09): petition withdrawn and appeal dismissed
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company asked to withdraw its petition challenging the NPDES permit for the Cope Station. The company said it and EPA Region 4 reached an agreement on all issues raised in the appeal, reflected in a modified permit decision. The EAB granted the request and dismissed…
Matter of Francis KODWO
Customary Ghanaian divorce may be proved by affidavits
The Board reviewed a visa petition for a beneficiary whose prior customary Ghanaian marriage had been dissolved through tribal procedures. The Board held that a court decree remains the preferred evidence of dissolution, but affidavits from the fathers of the former couple may be sufficient when…
McElroy Coal Company
Longwall-belt accumulations upheld and 19 other matters settled
McElroy Coal Company faced 20 citations and orders at its underground coal mine. The parties settled 19 matters for $12,576.50, including removal of several S&S designations, correction of one cited standard, and vacation of two citations. Judge Jerold Feldman separately affirmed a section 75.400…
Town of North Attleborough Wastewater Treatment Facility
In re Town of North Attleborough Wastewater Treatment Facility (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 07-02 and 07-04): petitions dismissed with prejudice after withdrawal
The Town of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management filed petitions for review in two NPDES appeals. Both petitioners later notified the Environmental Appeals Board that they were withdrawing their petitions after reaching an agreement with EPA…
Town of Northbridge, Wastewater Treatment Plant
In re Town of Northbridge, Wastewater Treatment Plant (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 06-11): petition dismissed with prejudice after withdrawal
The Town of Northbridge filed a petition for review of NPDES Permit No. MA-0100722. The Town later reported that it had reached an agreement with EPA that would facilitate compliance with the conditions of the appealed permit, making the appeal unnecessary. The Environmental Appeals Board dismissed…
Keene Wastewater Treatment Plant
In re Keene Wastewater Treatment Plant (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 07-18): review denied for phosphorus limits after metals claims dismissed
EPA Region 1 issued an NPDES permit for the Keene Wastewater Treatment Plant in New Hampshire. The City of Keene challenged seasonal total phosphorus limits and limits for copper, lead, and zinc. After the Region withdrew the metals limits, the Board dismissed that part of the petition as moot. The…
District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
In re District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 05-02, 07-10, 07-11, and 07-12): permit remanded in part
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority operated the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant under an NPDES permit covering combined sewer overflows and nitrogen discharges. Four petitions challenged the permit's compliance schedules, its total nitrogen effluent limit, and a provision…
Liston Brick Company
In re Liston Brick Company (EAB CAA Appeal No. 07-03): civil penalty modified after appeal withdrawal
An Administrative Law Judge found Liston Brick Company liable for two violations of 40 C.F.R. part 63, subpart RRR, two violations of Clean Air Act section 114, and assessed a $116,402 civil administrative penalty. On appeal, Liston challenged the finding that its net worth exceeded one million…
Euclid of Virginia, Inc.
In re Euclid of Virginia, Inc. (EAB RCRA (9006) Appeals No. 06-05 and 06-06): UST violations largely affirmed, penalty increased
Euclid of Virginia operated facilities with underground storage tanks in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. EPA Region 3 alleged violations involving tank release detection, line release detection, corrosion protection, overfill protection, spill prevention, and financial…
Matter of S-K-
Designated-group support no longer bars asylum
The Board reconsidered a Burmese respondent's asylum and withholding case after an Attorney General remand and later legislation addressing material support to specified groups. The respondent was a Christian and ethnic Chin who had supported the Chin National Front, which had previously been…
Matter of Alfonso GONZALEZ-MURO
Denaturalized alien remains removable for crimes committed as a lawful permanent resident
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security's appeal from an Immigration Judge's decision terminating removal proceedings against a Mexican respondent. The respondent had been convicted of four crimes while a lawful permanent resident, concealed those crimes during the naturalization…
Matter of Heidy Hazel BAIRES-Larios
Custody timing does not defeat derivative citizenship
The Board reviewed a Salvadoran respondent's appeal from an Immigration Judge's removal order, which found that she had not derived United States citizenship through her naturalized father. The respondent's father naturalized before she entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident…
Wyman Gordon Company
In re Wyman Gordon Company (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 06-14): petition dismissed after permit modification
EPA Region 1 and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection jointly issued a final modification to Wyman Gordon Company's NPDES Permit No. MA0004341. The modification addressed the concerns Wyman Gordon raised in its petition for review. The Environmental Appeals Board dismissed the…
Gordon Sand Company
Two citations vacated and guarding violation affirmed by default
Gordon Sand Company contested three citations at its California sand-and-gravel operation. Before the hearing, the Secretary agreed to vacate two citations. No company representative appeared for the remaining guarding citation, and the chief executive told the judge by telephone that he had…
Matter of S-A-K- and H-A-H-
Past persecution supports humanitarian asylum
The Board reviewed a mother and daughter from Somalia whose applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture had been denied by an Immigration Judge. The Board found that their evidence of female genital mutilation with aggravated circumstances…
Forest City Residential Management, Inc.
In re Forest City Residential Management, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 08-01C): lead disclosure consent order with a $7,700 penalty and a $50,000 supplemental project
Forest City Residential Management manages residential rental property in nineteen states. One of the buildings it managed was Midtown Towers, a 635-unit complex in Parma, Ohio built before 1978. That makes it target housing under the federal lead-based paint disclosure rule. In January 2001 Forest…
Haverhill Wastewater Treatment Facility
In re Haverhill Wastewater Treatment Facility (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 08-01): petition dismissed as moot
EPA Region 1 issued an NPDES permit for the Haverhill Wastewater Treatment Facility in Bradford, Massachusetts. The City of Haverhill petitioned for review of nitrogen monitoring requirements in the permit. EPA later withdrew the challenged conditions and moved to dismiss the petition. The…
Matter of Arturo CABRERA
Criminal costs and surcharges count as punishment
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security's appeal from an Immigration Judge's decision terminating removal proceedings against a Cuban respondent. The respondent had pleaded no contest to possessing a controlled substance in Florida and had been assessed $458 in criminal costs and…
Matter of Lamin ARUNA
A state misdemeanor can qualify as an aggravated felony
The Board reviewed a Sierra Leonean respondent's appeal from an Immigration Judge's decision finding him removable for a Maryland conviction involving conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The respondent argued that his offense could not be an aggravated felony because Maryland classified it as a…
Roy G. Peterson v. Alcoa World Alumina Atlantic
Discrimination complaint dismissed for no protected activity
Roy Peterson alleged that Alcoa refused light-duty assignments after job-related injuries, failed to replace tools lost during medical leave, and billed his private insurance for treatment of an eye irritation. Judge Jerold Feldman explained that a Mine Act discrimination claim requires protected…
Leed Foundry, Inc.
In re Leed Foundry, Inc. (EAB RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 07-02): Bevill Amendment dismissal reversed and remanded
Leed Foundry operated a grey iron foundry in Pennsylvania that melted scrap iron in a cupola furnace using petroleum coke and kerosene. EPA Region 3 alleged that fly ash captured from the furnace violated hazardous-waste management requirements, and the ALJ dismissed 13 RCRA counts after finding…
Environmental Protection Services, Inc.
In re Environmental Protection Services, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 06-01): transformer-storage finding reversed, penalty reduced
Environmental Protection Services stored and disposed of PCB-containing electrical equipment at a facility in Wheeling, West Virginia. EPA Region 3 alleged that the company exceeded approved maximum storage capacities for PCB transformers and capacitors and failed to follow time and temperature…
Martex Farms, S.E.
In re Martex Farms, S.E. (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 07-01): liability affirmed, penalty recalculated
Martex Farms operated agricultural establishments in Puerto Rico where workers and pesticide handlers used regulated pesticides. EPA alleged 336 violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and Worker Protection Standard requirements involving pesticide-application notices…
Easley Combined Utilities
In re Easley Combined Utilities (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 07-17): appeal dismissed after permit modification
Easley Combined Utilities petitioned for review of conditions in NPDES Permit No. SC0039853. The utility later moved to withdraw its petition and represented that EPA Region 4 had modified the permit conditions at issue. The Environmental Appeals Board granted the request and dismissed the appeal…
Matter of D-I-M-
Past persecution triggers a rebuttable presumption of future persecution
The Board reviewed a Kenyan respondent's appeal from an Immigration Judge's denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The Immigration Judge found that the respondent had suffered past persecution by members of the Mungiki sect, but denied asylum…
Matter of Devon Bercham KELLY
Preserve complete records when decisions use attachments
The Board reviewed a respondent's appeal from an Immigration Judge's decision whose written record referred repeatedly to an attachment that was missing from the file. The Board held that an Immigration Judge who uses an attachment must take particular care to preserve a complete record, and should…
Hubert Hoenck v. Granite Rock Company
Safety complaints shown, but independent discipline defense prevailed
Hubert Hoenck alleged that Granite Rock reprimanded, suspended, and discharged him because he raised concerns about water-truck safety, tire checks, operator training, and blast-area road controls. Judge Avram Weisberger found that Hoenck engaged in protected activity and presented enough timing…
Snow & Snow, Inc. and Kerry Snow
In re Snow & Snow, Inc. and Kerry Snow (EAB SDWA Appeal No. 07-03): default order revised to correct monitoring years
Snow & Snow, Inc. and Kerry Snow operated Class II enhanced-recovery injection wells in Pennsylvania. EPA alleged failures to submit annual monitoring reports, plug or properly address abandoned wells, and maintain financial responsibility under the Safe Drinking Water Act and Underground Injection…
Emerald Coal Resources, LP
Roof-fall control order upheld on summary decision
An unplanned roof fall buried cables in an active haulage track and escapeway at Emerald Mine No. 1, although no one was injured. MSHA issued a section 103(k) order restricting access and requiring an approved cleanup plan that identified equipment, methods, and temporary roof support. Judge…
Matter of Rumonat Iyabode ANIFOWOSHE
Adoption order does not require the older sibling to be adopted later
The Board reviewed a visa petition for an adopted child whose natural siblings were later adopted by the same parents. The child was 17 when adopted, and the siblings were under 16 when they were adopted. The Board held that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not require the older child's…
Shell Oil Company, et al.
In re Shell Oil Company, et al. (EAB MM 08-01C): consent agreement approved
Shell Oil Company and related operating entities disclosed financial-responsibility violations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Safe Drinking Water Act at 17 facilities. The violations involved requirements for closure, post-closure care, third-party liability, and plugging and…
Rinker Materials Western, Inc. and William E. Reffalt
Unsecured loader training violation upheld, personal penalty dismissed
Rinker trained front-end-loader operators with a second person sitting unsecured on an armrest or folding chair inside a one-seat cab. Judge Richard W. Manning deferred to MSHA's interpretation that section 56.9200(d) requires secure travel for a trainer outside the equipment operator's station and…
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.