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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Beaver Creek Coal Company
Settlement approved and penalties set at $250
Beaver Creek Coal timely contested three citations but failed to file the required blue cards for the proposed penalties, resulting in automatic final orders to pay. The judge found that the omission was excusable neglect because the operator intended to contest the citations and the procedural…
Beaver Creek Coal Company
Settlement approved and $120 penalty assessed
MSHA charged Beaver Creek Coal Company with three safety violations at the Trail Mountain No. 9 Mine. Beaver Creek agreed to withdraw its contest and pay $20 for one citation, and to accept a redesignated section 104(a) significant-and-substantial citation with a $100 penalty for a second matter…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Citation for intending to violate ventilation-plan rule vacated
MSHA cited Jim Walter Resources after the operator stated that it would no longer adopt its previously approved ventilation, methane, and dust control plan while seeking approval of a supplement. The citation described the violation as intending to adopt an unapproved plan, but the Secretary argued…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination finding reversed and penalty vacated
Consolidation Coal Company denied miner Roger Lee Wayne, Sr. the opportunity to participate in a ventilation plan review meeting without losing pay. An Administrative Law Judge found discrimination, ordered reimbursement for lost pay, and assessed a $300 civil penalty. The Commission reversed that…
Consolidation Coal Company
Water-spray order partly sustained
MSHA alleged that Consolidation Coal's Osage No. 3 Mine lacked an operable water spray at a belt-to-belt transfer point and had a damaged high-voltage cable. Judge Gary Melick found that the water-spray requirement was violated and resulted from unwarrantable failure because a similar condition had…
Freeman United Coal Mining Company
Ventilation violation vacated after inspector interference
Freeman United was cited after an inspector measured only 1,662 cubic feet per minute of air at the end of a line curtain, below the 5,000 cfm level in the mine's approved ventilation plan. The low reading followed a tear in the curtain, and a miner had immediately begun rehanging it. The inspector…
Tunnelton Mining Company
Weekly air-course examination violation modified
MSHA cited Tunnelton Mining Company for failing to examine and record examinations of portions of a return aircourse at the Marion Mine. The judge found that the violation of the weekly examination standard was proven because safe areas and travelways to bleeder examination points were not being…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Nonpermissible distribution box violation affirmed
MSHA found a nonpermissible electrical distribution box in a crosscut at Jim Walter Resources' No. 5 underground coal mine. The Commission held that the crosscut was the last open crosscut between the relevant entries, so the equipment violated the Mine Act standard requiring permissible equipment…
Randy Rothermel, Individually and D/B/A Tracey & Partners
Multiple citations modified or vacated
The Secretary brought three consolidated civil penalty proceedings against Randy Rothermel and Tracey & Partners at the Tracey Slope Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger found several violations involving escapeways, mine ventilation and maps, electrical equipment, and reporting requirements, while…
Green River Coal Company
Consolidated mine proceedings partly modified and settled
Green River Coal Company's No. 9 Mine faced consolidated proceedings over ventilation, explosives storage, roof control, and related civil penalties. Judge Gary Melick found one ventilation order unproven and vacated it, while modifying three other orders to section 104(a) citations and assessing…
Southern Ohio Coal Company
Orders split and penalty assessed
Southern Ohio Coal Company contested ventilation, equipment, and safeguard matters at the Martinka No. 1 Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger found that an approved ventilation plan did not require the curtain described in one order, so the related contest was sustained and Citation No. 2894708 was…
Cyprus Emerald Resources Corporation
Citations modified and roof order vacated
Cyprus Emerald Resources Corporation was cited at the Emerald Mine No. 1 for problems involving elevator-rope examinations, a ventilation-plan stopping, and roof-control support. Judge Gary Melick found violations in the elevator and stopping matters, but modified both citations to…
Bethenergy Mines, Inc.
Ventilation-plan order modified
Bethenergy Mines operated Cambria Slope Mine No. 33, where MSHA found a canvas curtain serving as an intake regulator even though the approved ventilation plan did not authorize that location or material. Judge Avram Weisberger held that the curtain violated the approved plan and 30 C.F.R. §…
Consolidation Coal Company
Ventilation citation modified and withdrawal order affirmed
Consolidation Coal Company operated the Robinson Run No. 95 underground coal mine. MSHA alleged that damaged haulage doors were allowing ventilating air to enter an intake escapeway, in violation of the approved ventilation plan and 30 C.F.R. § 75.316. Judge Gary Melick found the condition…
Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company
Ventilation order modified to citation
Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company operated the Greenwich Collieries No. 1 Mine. MSHA alleged that the mine was using an approved ventilation plan that did not cover its retreat mining system, in violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.316, and issued a section 104(d)(2) order. Judge George A. Koutras…
Green River Coal Co., Inc.
Mixed rulings on coal, equipment, and penalty proceedings
Green River Coal Company challenged several citations and orders involving its Green River No. 9 Mine, while the Secretary sought civil penalties. The judge dismissed two contest dockets, vacated a citation involving an electrical roof bolter, and found that coal had accumulated along a conveyor…
J.C. London Coal Company, Inc.
Citations affirmed and penalties assessed after default
J.C. London Coal Company did not appear at the hearing on 18 alleged mine-safety violations and was found in default after receiving proper notice. Judge George A. Koutras found the cited violations established on the inspectors' testimony and affirmed the citations. He assessed $364 for the KENT…
Green River Coal Company, Inc.
Settlements approved across four mine dockets
Green River Coal Company agreed to settle four civil penalty proceedings involving coal accumulations, conveyor equipment, ventilation, methane, accident-site preservation, and roof control at its Green River No. 9 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras found the settlements reasonable and in the public…
Freeman United Coal Mining Company
Ventilation violation affirmed with $200 penalty
Freeman United Coal Mining Company was cited after an MSHA inspection found inadequate airflow at the end of a line curtain in the gassy Orient No. 6 Mine. Judge John J. Morris found that the company violated its approved ventilation plan by operating with 1,662 cubic feet per minute of air where…
Greenwich Collieries
Ventilation withdrawal order vacated
Greenwich Collieries challenged a withdrawal order alleging that the Greenwich No. 2 Mine was not following its approved ventilation plan. The judge found that no mining was taking place when the inspector visited and that the Secretary did not prove the alleged ventilation conditions on the…
Peabody Coal Company
Post-explosion safety matters resolved with $7,050
Peabody Coal's Camp No. 2 Mine was the subject of civil penalty proceedings after a methane explosion. The proceeding addressed alleged violations involving electrical equipment, ventilation, coal dust, and related mine-safety requirements. Judge William Fauver approved a $2,000 settlement for one…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Ambiguous ventilation-plan provision could not support violations
The Commission reviewed consolidated contests and civil penalty proceedings concerning an approved ventilation-plan provision requiring line brattice to be maintained within 10 feet of “all faces” at Jim Walter's underground coal mines. The Commission affirmed the ALJ decision vacating the…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Methane citation dismissed and contest granted
Jim Walter Resources contested a citation alleging that methane levels in the mine's return aircourses exceeded the limit in 30 C.F.R. § 75.309(a). Judge Gary Melick found that the Secretary issued the citation immediately after discovering the methane and did not show that the operator had been…
Rushton Mining Company
Orders modified and $1,600 in penalties assessed
Rushton Mining's consolidated cases involved three contested orders and a civil-penalty proceeding arising from ventilation, escapeway, coal-dust, and examination issues at the Rushton Mine. Judge James A. Broderick vacated Order No. 2403926 and dismissed its contest, approved a settlement that…
Drummond Company, Inc.
Roof and ventilation settlements approved at $1,950
Drummond Company faced two violations at the Mary Lee No. 1 Mine. A roof bolter began installing bolts before temporary roof supports were in place, and the mine's ventilation plan was not followed because the line brattice was too far from the face, air velocity was below the plan requirement, and…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Two orders reduced and $600 settlement approved
Jim Walter Resources faced two contest proceedings and a related civil penalty proceeding at No. 4 Mine. One order alleged that a scoop operator knocked down a ventilation curtain and did not repair it, while the other alleged cleanup under unsupported roof. After the operator was found to have…
West Elk Coal Company, Inc.
Five low-water-shutdown citations vacated
West Elk Coal Company challenged five citations issued after MSHA tested low-water shutdown devices on diesel shuttle cars at the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine. The citations alleged that the devices failed to shut down the engines when scrubber water was depleted, violating the mine's approved…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Ventilation-plan violations upheld and $1,750 assessed
Jim Walter Resources operated the No. 7 underground coal mine in Alabama. Judge James A. Broderick found that the operator violated its approved ventilation plan by allowing line brattice to remain more than 10 feet from the deepest point of a face and by allowing methane levels above the plan's…
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.