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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Black Mesa Pipeline, Inc.
Electrical citations reversed
Black Mesa Pipeline operated a coal-slurry preparation plant with high-voltage electrical equipment. The Commission majority held that the Mine Safety and Health Administration's two-level testing policy for electrician qualification was not grounded in the plain language of 30 C.F.R. § 77.103. It…
American Soda, LLP
In re American Soda, LLP (EAB UIC Appeal Nos. 00-1 and 00-2): review denied
American Soda sought a Class III Underground Injection Control permit to construct and operate solution-mining wells for nahcolite on federal sodium leases in Colorado. The Sierra Club, IMC Chemicals, and Tom Dodson and Associates challenged the permit, raising issues about the Bureau of Land…
Spitzer Great Lakes Ltd.
In re Spitzer Great Lakes Ltd. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 99-3): seven PCB violations affirmed and $165,000 penalty upheld
Spitzer Great Lakes owned property in Ohio containing transformers, capacitors, switching equipment, and drums of dielectric fluid that were subject to polychlorinated biphenyl requirements. Spitzer conceded the facts supporting seven TSCA violations, and the Presiding Officer assessed a $165,000…
Central Sand and Gravel Company
Powerline-clearance violation affirmed and penalty reduced
Central Sand and Gravel operated a sand and gravel facility in Nebraska. The ALJ found that a stockpile had been built too close to overhead high-voltage powerlines, violating the clearance requirements in 30 C.F.R. § 56.12045. An 11-year-old boy entered the property, climbed the stockpile…
Baker Support Services, Inc.
Untimely contest leaves lead citation final
Baker Support Services operated and maintained equipment at a Navy radio transmitter facility in Guam. OSHA issued a serious citation alleging that Baker had not made the initial determination required by the lead standard, with a proposed penalty of $2,000. Baker filed its notice of contest after…
Alumining Incorporated
ROPS violation modified and backup-alarm citation vacated
Au Mining operated a small underground gold mine using a load, haul, and dump loader that traveled briefly on the surface to unload material. Judge August F. Cetti held that the loader was surface equipment subject to the ROPS and seat-belt requirements in 30 C.F.R. § 57.14130(a). He deleted the…
Pepperell Associates
In re Pepperell Associates (EAB CWA Appeal Nos. 99-1 and 99-2): reconsideration denied
Pepperell Associates asked the Environmental Appeals Board to reconsider its May 10, 2000 decision concerning oil discharges from the company's oil-handling facility. The Board rejected the motion because most arguments repeated issues already decided and did not show a demonstrable error of law or…
Puna Geothermal Venture
In re Puna Geothermal Venture (EAB UIC Appeal Nos. 99-2, 99-2A, 99-2B, 99-3, 99-4 and 99-5): permit remanded in part
Puna Geothermal Venture operated a geothermal power plant in Pahoa, Hawaii, using injection wells to return condensed steam, brine, and other fluids to the subsurface formation from which they came. EPA Region IX required a federal UIC permit after previously allowing operation under a state…
J & C Mining, L.L.C., and Manalapan Mining Company, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement relief denied during expedited review
The operators sought expedited Commission review after an ALJ dismissed the Secretary's discrimination complaint on behalf of Grant Noe, Jr. They also asked to stop paying the temporary economic reinstatement required by an earlier settlement order and to shorten the Secretary's time to file a…
The Coteau Properties Co.
Motion to compel conditionally granted in part
The Secretary of Labor, on behalf of Royal Sargent, alleged that The Coteau Properties Co. discriminated against him under section 105(c)(1) of the Mine Act. The company asked for documents and answers to interrogatories that the Secretary withheld based on informant, deliberative-process, and…
Freeze Technology International, Inc.
Mixed ruling after nitrogen asphyxiation at pipeline freeze site
Freeze Technology used liquid nitrogen to form ice plugs in an underground water pipeline so Enerpipe could perform hydrostatic testing at a remote Oklahoma ranch. Two night-shift workers were found dead inside the freeze excavation after nitrogen gas displaced the oxygen. The judge affirmed…
Hollywood Pool & Spa
Scaffold violations grouped with a $1,500 penalty
Hollywood Pool & Spa maintained swimming pools and was constructing its own building in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. OSHA cited five serious scaffold conditions involving incomplete planking, inadequate support, improper access, lack of a competent-person inspection, and missing fall protection. The…
Hope Mining, Inc.
Coal-dust accumulation citation affirmed with $1,500 penalty
Hiope Mining operated an underground coal mine in West Virginia. MSHA cited the mine after finding coal and float coal dust accumulations from one to fourteen inches deep in active workings, including conditions that had been cited two days earlier. Judge Michael E. Zielinski found the violation…
Steel Dynamics, Inc.
In re Steel Dynamics, Inc. (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 99-4 and 99-5): permit partly remanded for BACT review
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued Steel Dynamics a PSD permit for a new steel mill in Whitley County, Indiana. The petitioners and EPA challenged many permit terms, including best available control technology for lead, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. The Board remanded…
City Transfer of Kent, Incorporated
Request to reopen penalty assessments remanded for Rule 60(b) determination
City Transfer of Kent asked the Commission to reopen four penalty assessments that had become final orders after the operator allegedly sent letters contesting the citations. The operator said it did not receive clear appeal instructions and did not receive a response to its letters. The Commission…
Maple Creek Mining, Inc.
Three coal-mine orders affirmed and $17,000 penalty assessed
Maple Creek Mining operated a large underground coal mine in Pennsylvania. The Secretary alleged that the mine failed to maintain a belt structure, failed to post a danger sign, and allowed combustible coal dust to accumulate. The operator stipulated to the coal-dust violation and challenged its…
Maple Creek Mining, Inc.
Three coal-mine orders affirmed and $17,000 penalty assessed
Maple Creek Mining operated a large underground coal mine in Pennsylvania. The Secretary alleged that the mine failed to maintain a belt structure, failed to post a danger sign, and allowed combustible coal dust to accumulate. The operator stipulated to the coal-dust violation and challenged its…
Von Bodkin, d/b/a Eclipse Coating Systems
Seven-month-late contest dismissed
OSHA issued Eclipse Coating Systems a serious fall-protection citation after inspecting an Idaho worksite. An agent of the company signed for the citation on July 27, 1999, and the document twice explained that any contest had to be filed within 15 working days. Eclipse did not submit a notice of…
Reintjes of the South, Inc.
Settlement approving $55,131 penalty
Reintjes of the South contested two citations and faced two related civil penalty proceedings involving the Ornet Corporation mine. The parties submitted a settlement under which the operator agreed to pay the full $55,131 penalty. Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement acceptable under the…
In the matter of: Connie Prater
Disbarment ordered after disciplinary default
The Commission referred a disciplinary matter involving Connie Prater to an ALJ after allegations concerning fraudulent respirable-dust samples submitted to MSHA. After her counsel withdrew and she asked to withdraw from the case, the judge found that she had not complied with an order to show…
Maersk Stevedoring Co.
Unguarded hatch violation affirmed, penalty cut
Maersk Stevedoring performed longshoring work aboard the Maersk San Antonio in Long Beach, California. An OSHA inspector saw a walking boss without fall protection near the edge of an open hatch where a fall of 16 to 20 feet was possible. The judge rejected Maersk's argument that OSHA had withdrawn…
Tri-State Steel Construction Company, Inc.
$23,400 EAJA award granted on remand
Tri-State sought attorney fees and expenses after prevailing on hazard-communication and highway traffic-control citation items from a bridge rehabilitation project. The Sixth Circuit had reversed an earlier ruling that Tri-State was ineligible under the Equal Access to Justice Act merely because…
Dillingham Construction Pacific Basin LTD
Precast collapse citation reduced to serious
Dillingham Construction was the prime contractor for an addition to the Micronesia Mall in Guam. Precast concrete beams that had been placed without completing temporary welds collapsed while employees worked above and below them, fatally injuring an employee of a subcontractor. The judge found…
B & B Plumbing, Inc.
Trench violations reduced from willful to serious
B & B Plumbing was installing sanitation plumbing at a school on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona. Employees worked in a trench with vertical sides that reached about eight feet deep and had no protective system or adequate means of egress; an employee died in a cave-in. The judge…
Plateau Mining Corp.
Preshift-examination citation vacated
Plateau Mining operated the Star Point No. 2 coal mine. MSHA cited the operator after an inspector found loose and fine coal accumulations and roof or rib conditions that were not recorded in the preshift examination book. Judge August F. Cetti found that the conditions arose after the preshift…
Tifa Limited
In re Tifa Limited (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 99-5): liability partly reversed and penalty increased to $90,000
Tifa Limited imported, offered for sale, sold, and distributed rotenone pesticide products after EPA issued a suspension order. The Presiding Officer found Tifa liable for 13 violations and assessed a $65,000 penalty, but dismissed other counts after treating the suspension order's effective date…
General Property Services, Inc. a/k/a GPS Roofing Services
Training items affirmed, fall-protection item vacated
General Property Services contracted to replace deteriorated sections of a warehouse roof in Forest Park, Georgia. The judge found that GPS was the employer of the roofing crew because its officers supervised and inspected the work, it held crew leaders out as GPS officers, and it retained…
The Geon Company
In re The Geon Company (EAB CAA Appeal No. 00-7): Title V petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
The Geon Company manufactured synthetic resins at a facility in Pedricktown, New Jersey. After Geon formed a joint venture with Occidental Chemical Corporation, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection required one Title V operating permit application covering both facilities because…
Martin Marietta Aggregates
Rank-and-file miner's negligence not imputed and $2,000 penalty upheld
A miner died when a locomotive moved forward while he was cleaning scales at Martin Marietta Aggregates' Camak Quarry. The ALJ found a significant-and-substantial violation of the rule requiring mobile equipment controls to be placed in park and the parking brake set, but found that the miner's…
Earl Begley, employed by Manalapan Mining Co., Inc.
Late petition for discretionary review denied
Earl Begley challenged an ALJ decision finding that he carried smoking materials underground and ordering him to pay a $250 civil penalty. The Commission received his petition for discretionary review six days after the 30-day filing deadline. Because Begley was represented by counsel and offered…
Dayton Hudson Corp.
Roofing and acetone violations affirmed with reduced penalties
Dayton Hudson employees performed roofing work on a flat roof in West Allis, Wisconsin, about 28 feet above the next level. The company admitted that employees did not use available harnesses and that its warning-line system was incomplete, too loose, too close to the roof edge, and missing around…
Black Construction Corp
Trench egress affirmed, loose-soil item vacated
Black Construction employees installed formwork beside sewer lines in a trench at Camp Watkins Road in Guam. An inspector measured the excavation at about six feet deep and saw two employees inside without a ladder or other safe means of egress. The judge credited the inspector's unrebutted…
Douglas R. Rushford
Penalty assessment vacated and remanded
A worker died after a fuel-truck wheel rim exploded during tire inflation at Douglas R. Rushford Trucking's quarry. The ALJ found a significant-and-substantial and unwarrantable violation of the rule requiring a stand-off inflation device, but assessed a $3,000 penalty instead of the Secretary's…
Hubb Corporation
Two penalty assessments vacated and remanded
MSHA cited Hubb Corporation for failing to follow its approved ventilation plan and for failing to adequately control loose rib blocks at a Kentucky coal mine. The ALJ found both violations significant and substantial, modified the orders to citations, and assessed $4,000 for each violation. The…
Eighty-Four Mining Company
Multiple coal-dust orders resolved with $8,415 total penalty
Eighty-Four Mining operated a coal mine where the ALJ found extensive coal and coal-dust accumulations, preshift examination failures, inadequate rock dust, and dust in an area covered by the mine's ventilation plan. The decision found several significant-and-substantial violations and assessed…
Cyprus Emerald Resources
Settlement approved on remand
Cyprus Emerald Resources was ordered to resolve the remaining civil penalty issue after the Commission remanded the case for assessment of a penalty on one citation. The Secretary proposed reducing the penalty from $3,000 to $1,000. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon approved the settlement under the Mine Act…
T & M Development Company
Pro se discrimination dismissal vacated and remanded
Donald Ribble filed a pro se Mine Act discrimination complaint alleging that T & M Development Company fired him after a back injury and after he sought an accident report and reported safety problems. The ALJ dismissed the complaint for failing to allege facts constituting discrimination and…
Kyber Coal Company
Settlement approved across consolidated contest and penalty proceedings
Judge David F. Barbour approved a settlement covering consolidated contest and civil penalty proceedings involving Kyber Coal Company and A A & W Coals, Inc. The record states that the matters concerned alleged violations of mandatory coal mine safety standards in Parts 48, 75, and 77, including…
Chempace Corporation
In re Chempace Corporation (EAB FIFRA Appeal Nos. 99-2 and 99-3): liability affirmed and penalty upheld
Chempace Corporation appealed an EPA Region V enforcement action alleging 99 FIFRA violations at its Toledo, Ohio facility. The Board affirmed liability for 98 violations involving sales or distributions of unregistered or misbranded pesticides and upheld the Presiding Officer's consideration of…
Chempace Corporation
In re Chempace Corporation (EAB FIFRA Appeal Nos. 99-2 and 99-3): 98 violations and $92,193 penalty affirmed
Chempace Corporation sold or distributed unregistered and misbranded pesticides and produced pesticides at an unregistered facility in Ohio. The Presiding Officer found 98 FIFRA violations and assessed a civil penalty, and both EPA and Chempace appealed different parts of the Initial Decision. The…
N & N Contractors, Inc.
Fall-protection violation affirmed, training item vacated
N & N Contractors erected precast exterior panels on a twelve-story building in Washington, D.C. An employee crossed beneath a horizontal lifeline without tying off, stumbled near an unprotected edge, and fell more than 115 feet to his death. The Commission held that the fall-protection standard…
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
In re E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 98-2): reconsideration denied
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company asked the Environmental Appeals Board to reconsider a remand concerning alleged inconsistencies between pesticide label sections and Worker Protection Standard labeling requirements. DuPont argued that the Board lacked authority to remand an issue it viewed as…
Centralia Mining Company
One discrimination complaint dismissed, one preserved
The Secretary brought four discrimination complaints on behalf of Levi Bussanich against Centralia Mining Company. Centralia argued that delays in the Secretary's investigation materially prejudiced its ability to defend two of the complaints. Judge Richard W. Manning dismissed the 1997 complaint…
Centralia Mining Company
Partial summary decision denied in discrimination case
The Secretary brought a discrimination proceeding on behalf of Levi Bussanich against Centralia Mining Company under the Mine Act. Centralia argued that an earlier temporary-reinstatement ruling prevented the Secretary from litigating the merits of Bussanich's discharge claim. Judge Richard W…
Branham Sign Company
Fall violations reduced from willful to serious
Branham Sign Company manufactured, serviced, and erected signs. A supervisor worked from an aerial-lift basket and on a sign about 64 feet above the ground without a tied-off safety harness. The Commission affirmed violations of both fall-protection standards but held that the Secretary had not…
Harlan Cumberland Coal Co.
Coal-burst citation vacated
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company's underground C-2 Mine experienced a coal burst during retreat mining that injured six miners, two fatally. MSHA cited the company for failing to control coal ribs under the roof-control standard and proposed a $50,000 penalty. Judge August F. Cetti found that Harlan…
San Benito Aggregates, Incorporated
Reopening request remanded for fact-finding
San Benito Aggregates asked to reopen six penalty assessments that had become final Commission orders after the operator missed the 30-day contest period. The company cited internal management problems and financial hardship, while the Secretary opposed relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure…
Pepperell Associates
In re Pepperell Associates (EAB CWA Appeal Nos. 99-1 and 99-2): oil-spill liability and penalty increased
Pepperell Associates operated a facility in Lewiston, Maine, where an October 1996 oil spill discharged several hundred gallons into Gully Brook and the Androscoggin River. EPA alleged failures to maintain a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan, failure to timely amend and implement a…
Arch of Illinois
Reconsideration denied as untimely
Gary D. Morgan asked the Commission to reconsider its denial of discretionary review and requested scientific analysis of test results in his discrimination case against Arch of Illinois. The Commission denied reconsideration because the motion was filed after the 10-day deadline in Commission…
David Morales v. Asarco Incorporated
Discrimination complaint dismissed, later vacated on review
David Morales alleged that Asarco Incorporated terminated him in retaliation for reporting fumes in his haul truck cab to MSHA. Judge Richard W. Manning found that Morales engaged in protected activity but did not prove that his discharge was motivated by that complaint. The judge concluded that…
Delta T Construction Co., Inc.
Roof-cover and training-record violations affirmed
Delta T Construction was an insulation contractor working on a cold-storage warehouse roof. A temporary employee removed an unsecured roof-hole cover while collecting scrap, stepped into the opening, and fell 31 feet in a fatal accident. The judge held that Delta controlled the work environment and…
A. Hansen Masonry, Inc.
Repeat scaffold violation affirmed, forklift item vacated
A. Hansen Masonry performed construction work in San Antonio, Texas. OSHA observed an employee making repeated trips on a twelve-foot scaffold whose southwest corner lacked guardrails, and the employee used no other fall protection. The judge found employer knowledge because the foreman knew the…
John B. Coffman, d/b/a Southeast Industrial Painting
Penalties cut for a small painting contractor who admitted the violations
John B. Coffman ran Southeast Industrial Painting, a small tank painting and renovation business in Florida. OSHA inspected a jobsite in Orange Park, Florida in August 1997 and issued five citations spread across two dockets. Coffman first contested the citations, but the cases were held while a…
Allied Custom Gypsum, Inc.
Three citations vacated at a small gypsum mine
Allied Custom Gypsum operated a small gypsum mine and crusher plant near Fairview, Oklahoma. MSHA cited the company over a diesel-fuel warning sign, access to the top of a fuel-tank hatch, and guarding around a conveyor head pulley, and sought a $165 penalty. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the…
Consolidation Coal Company
Roof-support order affirmed on remand with $4,000 penalty
Consolidation Coal operated the Robinson Run No. 95 underground coal mine in West Virginia. MSHA found that the mine lacked the required supply of supplementary roof-support materials and issued a section 104(d)(2) order under 30 C.F.R. § 75.214. After the Commission found the violation resulted…
Atlantic States Materials, Inc.
Amended settlement approved in discrimination case
The Secretary filed a discrimination complaint on behalf of Kevin T. Donald against Atlantic States Materials under section 105(c) of the Mine Act. An administrative law judge approved a settlement after the Secretary mistakenly filed a draft motion that Atlantic States' counsel had not reviewed…
L & T Fabrication & Construction, Inc.
EAJA fee application denied
L & T Fabrication & Construction, a small construction contractor working at a Wyoming coal mine, sought $14,809.82 in attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The underlying case involved a falling handrail that permanently paralyzed an employee, and the ALJ reduced MSHA's…
Contractors Sand and Gravel, Inc.
EAJA award set at $99,935.51 on remand
Contractors Sand and Gravel pursued attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after the D.C. Circuit held that the Secretary's position in the underlying case was not substantially justified. The Commission reinstated the judge's EAJA award and remanded for calculation of…
AIA Environmental
Unsecured-cylinder item affirmed, two items vacated
AIA Environmental performed interior demolition at an office building in Connecticut. OSHA found unsecured oxygen and acetylene cylinders, cited their close placement, and alleged that AIA did not make its written hazard-communication program available upon request. The judge affirmed the…
Great Lakes Packaging Corp.
Annual-audiogram violation made willful and penalty doubled
Great Lakes Packaging made cardboard packaging and displays at a Germantown, Wisconsin facility. Its workers' compensation insurer repeatedly warned that measured noise levels triggered OSHA hearing-conservation requirements, including baseline and annual audiograms. Great Lakes gave audiograms at…
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.