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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Secretary of Labor v. GCC Rio Grande, Inc.
Danger tape did not excuse damaged ladder
A loader struck the only ladder accessing one side of GCC Rio Grande's additives grizzly, breaking welds and leaving the ladder out of position. GCC placed red danger tape across the access point and argued that the tape removed the ladder from service, so MSHA could not cite the damaged condition…
Secretary of Labor v. Hanson Aggregates Southeast, LLC
Fatality-related settlement reductions rejected
The parties proposed reducing total penalties across four dockets from $33,756 to $11,801, including large reductions to two orders arising from a haul truck that left a graded road and went over a 201-foot highwall, killing the operator. Hanson Aggregates suggested that a cardiac event might…
Secretary of Labor v. Kentucky Fuel Corporation
High negligence affirmed for unblocked truck repair
Kentucky Fuel Corporation operated the Beech Creek Surface Mine, where a mechanic worked beneath an autocar grease truck without blocking it against motion. The truck started and rolled about two feet, causing several broken ribs and a punctured lung; the mechanic later recovered fully. MSHA cited…
Matter of Egidijus SINIAUSKAS
Repeated drunk driving made bond inappropriate
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s appeal from an Immigration Judge’s decision granting a Lithuanian respondent release on a $25,000 bond. The respondent had three driving-under-the-influence convictions and a recent arrest for the same conduct, although he also had family…
Elmer Cook Construction, Inc.
Fall-protection and ladder items affirmed
Elmer Cook Construction employees applied waterproofing material on a low-slope roof while using fall-protection equipment incorrectly. One employee was not connected to a lifeline, and another used an improperly attached system that would not prevent a fall to the ground. The employees also used a…
Secretary of Labor v. Staker & Parson Companies
Seat-belt citation vacated and loss-of-control penalty reduced
Staker & Parson Companies operated a sand and gravel pit where a haul truck traveled through a berm, down an 80-foot embankment, and into a partially flooded pit, killing the driver. MSHA cited the company for failing to maintain control of the truck and for the driver's alleged failure to wear a…
Ravago Chemical Distribution Inc. d/b/a Pacific Coast Chemicals
In re Ravago Chemical Distribution Inc. d/b/a Pacific Coast Chemicals (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 18-02Q): $49,980 penalty paid and matter resolved
EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement filed a complaint alleging that Ravago Chemical Distribution Inc. d/b/a Pacific Coast Chemicals violated TSCA sections 4, 8(a), and 13 and related regulations. The complaint sought a $49,980 penalty. The company paid the penalty in full on or before January 30…
Marshall Justice v. Rockwell Mining, LLC
Some discrimination claims allowed to proceed
Marshall Justice alleged that Rockwell Mining interfered with his rights as a miners' representative, continued assigning him to operate a scoop he believed unsafe, and retaliated against protected activity. The Judge dismissed Justice's ventilation-plan-notice claim from this case because the…
Matter of Rosalina CASTILLO ANGULO
Wave-through admission and cancellation eligibility
The Board reviewed a Mexican lawful permanent resident’s appeal after an Immigration Judge denied her application for cancellation of removal. The respondent said that an immigration officer had waved her through a port of entry in 1998, but the Immigration Judge had treated that entry as…
General Electric Company
In re General Electric Company (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 16-05): Cleanup permit largely upheld, two issues remanded
EPA Region 1 issued General Electric Company a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective-action permit to address polychlorinated-biphenyl contamination in the Housatonic River, its banks, backwaters, and floodplains in Massachusetts and Connecticut. General Electric and four other…
General Electric Company
In re General Electric Company (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 16-04): Cleanup permit largely upheld, two issues remanded
EPA Region 1 issued General Electric Company a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective-action permit to address polychlorinated-biphenyl contamination in the Housatonic River, its banks, backwaters, and floodplains in Massachusetts and Connecticut. General Electric and four other…
General Electric Company
In re General Electric Company (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 16-03): Cleanup permit largely upheld, two issues remanded
EPA Region 1 issued General Electric Company a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective-action permit to address polychlorinated-biphenyl contamination in the Housatonic River, its banks, backwaters, and floodplains in Massachusetts and Connecticut. General Electric and four other…
General Electric Company
In re General Electric Company (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 16-02): Cleanup permit largely upheld, two issues remanded
EPA Region 1 issued General Electric Company a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective-action permit to address polychlorinated-biphenyl contamination in the Housatonic River, its banks, backwaters, and floodplains in Massachusetts and Connecticut. General Electric and four other…
General Electric Company
In re General Electric Company (EAB RCRA Appeal Nos. 16-01 to 16-05): Cleanup permit largely upheld, two issues remanded
EPA Region 1 issued General Electric Company a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective-action permit to address polychlorinated-biphenyl contamination in the Housatonic River, its banks, backwaters, and floodplains in Massachusetts and Connecticut. General Electric and four other…
Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Midwest Mining, LLC
Violations upheld but six unwarrantable findings removed
MSHA issued Peabody Midwest Mining seven section 104(d)(2) orders involving loose ribs, missed or inadequate preshift examinations, and damaged or missing belt rollers at the Francisco Underground Pit. Judge William B. Moran upheld every violation, including the S&S findings for the loose-rib…
Earth Developers, Inc.
Citations vacated for untimely service
OSHA inspected an Earth Developers worksite and proposed three serious violations with $5,976 in penalties. OSHA generated a citation within six months, but postal tracking showed no evidence that it was ever deposited in the mail. After discovering the problem more than two months later, OSHA…
Guzzo Masonry Inc.
Scaffold safety items mostly affirmed
Guzzo Masonry employees performed stucco repair from a two-level scaffold at a Delaware home. OSHA observed an employee working about 14 feet above the ground on a partially planked platform without guardrails, and another employee used the scaffold cross-braces for access because no ladder was…
Alon USA, LP
In re Alon USA, LP (EAB CAA Appeal No. 18-01C): consent agreement ratified
The EPA EAB order concerns Alon USA, LP in a Clean Air Act enforcement matter. The two-page release does not describe the alleged violation, the penalty, or the specific obligations in the incorporated Consent Agreement. The Board ratified the Consent Agreement under EPA's Consolidated Rules of…
Peabody Twentymile Mining, LLC v. Secretary of Labor
Subpoenas for two MSHA inspectors quashed
Peabody Twentymile Mining subpoenaed two current MSHA inspectors to testify about the mine's practice of using a metal hook to remove material from a conveyor. The underlying citation alleged that a miner performed this work while the feeder conveyor was moving, in violation of 30 C.F.R. §…
Matter of W-Y-C- & H-O-B-
A proposed social group must be clearly stated before the Immigration Judge
The Board reviewed the appeal of a Honduran mother and her minor son after an Immigration Judge denied their applications for asylum and withholding of removal. The mother had presented one particular social group to the Immigration Judge, then proposed a substantially different group for the first…
Secretary of Labor v. Mach Mining, LLC
Coal-accumulation and examination-record violations affirmed
MSHA found extensive loose-coal accumulations along Mach Mining's 3,500-foot slope belt, including six locations where coal contacted the belt or rollers. The mine's examination book said only that the slope belt needed cleaning and that work was in progress. The Commission affirmed both the…
Secretary of Labor obo Kevin R. Shaffer v. The Marion County Coal Company
Temporary reinstatement granted
Kevin Shaffer complained that a haul truck's transmission twice jumped from neutral into reverse and asked his supervisor for different work. Marion County Coal reassigned him, but suspended him the next day and later moved to discharge him after a disputed confrontation with the supervisor. The…
Secretary of Labor obo Carl Ebert v. Marshall County Coal Co.
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Carl Ebert, a shuttle-car operator known as a safety advocate, raised concerns about roof bolting, emergency-ride brakes, supply handling, a power cable, and the number of rail cars at the section. Marshall County Coal later suspended him for two and a half days after he did not begin his…
Secretary of Labor obo Anthony Vega v. Syar Industries, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement ordered
Anthony Vega raised safety concerns about smoke created when workers cut hydraulic hoses and about a near miss on a quarry haul road. Syar Industries later terminated him for writing complimentary messages on coworkers' pay envelopes and signing some with a quarry manager's initials. Judge L. Zane…
Kopin Display Corporation
In re Kopin Display Corporation (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 18-01Q): $47,073 penalty paid and matter resolved
EPA alleged that Kopin Display Corporation violated the prohibited acts provision in section 15(2) of the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA's amended complaint sought a $47,073 penalty. Kopin paid the full penalty, waiving its rights to contest the allegations and appeal the Final Order. The…
City of Sandpoint Wastewater Treatment Plant
In re City of Sandpoint Wastewater Treatment Plant (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 17-06): phosphorus-limit challenge dismissed as moot
EPA Region 10 reissued an NPDES permit for the City of Sandpoint Wastewater Treatment Plant in Idaho. The Idaho Conservation League challenged the phosphorus effluent limits, arguing that the Region used a mixing-zone policy that was not included in Idaho's EPA-approved water-quality standards. The…
Valmet, Inc.
Settlement remanded for corrected agreement
An administrative law judge approved a settlement agreement between Valmet and the Secretary. The parties later reported that they had inadvertently submitted an earlier draft containing an incorrect abatement date. The Secretary filed an unopposed motion to vacate the approval order and submitted…
Michael Wilson v. Armstrong Coal Company, Inc.
Removing miners' representative contact information was interference
Armstrong Coal replaced a posted list of miners' representatives with a version that omitted every representative's address and telephone number, including Michael Wilson's. Judge Kenneth R. Andrews held that removing the contact information made confidential safety reporting harder and therefore…
Secretary of Labor v. Carter Machinery Co., Inc.
Competing summary motions denied over oil-accumulation facts
MSHA cited Carter Machinery for an alleged motor-oil accumulation near the turbo and alternator of a maintenance truck under 30 C.F.R. § 77.1104. Carter argued that the Secretary lacked evidence about the material, amount, temperatures, and fire hazard, while the Secretary's conference litigation…
Secretary of Labor v. Blanchard Machinery Company
Gasoline-can citation amendment allowed
MSHA cited Blanchard Machinery after finding a partly filled five-gallon safety can with apparent gasoline in a service truck and no label identifying its contents. The Secretary asked to change the cited standard from the hazardous-chemical labeling rule in 30 C.F.R. § 47.41(a)(1) to the…
Barnhardt Manufacturing Co.
In re Barnhardt Manufacturing Co. (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 17-07): permit appeal dismissed after settlement
Barnhardt Manufacturing Company sought review of conditions in an NPDES permit issued by EPA Region 1. The permit covered treated process water discharges from Barnhardt's facility in Colrain, Massachusetts, to the North River and Deerfield River Watershed. The parties jointly pursued settlement…
Matter of Reynaldo CASTRO-TUM, Respondent
Attorney General referred administrative-closure questions for review
The Attorney General referred the Board’s decision in Reynaldo Castro-Tum’s case for review of whether Immigration Judges and the Board have authority to administratively close removal proceedings. The referral ordered the Board’s decision to be stayed while the Attorney General considered the…
CME Corporation
Pit fall and reporting items affirmed
A CME Corporation employee fell more than 10 feet through an unguarded opening into a construction pit and required multiple surgeries. CME argued that the opening was an access point that did not require a guardrail, but the judge found it was not being used for access when the employee worked…
Austal USA, LLC
Unsafe miller tool item affirmed
Austal USA used angle grinders fitted with toothed saw blades, known at its shipyard as miller tools, for cutting and finishing aluminum. The grinder manufacturer did not approve toothed blades for the tools, and the combination created a heightened kickback risk. The judge found that Austal knew…
North Pac Corporation
Default affirms five safety items
OSHA cited North Pac Corporation for electrical and scaffold violations at a Northern Marianas College construction project. During the Commission case, North Pac repeatedly failed to answer discovery, participate in required conferences, and comply with multiple written orders and extended…
Matter of Ramon JASSO ARANGURE
A later burglary charge was not barred by res judicata
The Board reviewed a Mexican lawful permanent resident’s appeal from a removal order based on a Michigan home-invasion conviction. The Department of Homeland Security had first charged the conviction as an aggravated-felony crime of violence, but that proceeding ended after the Sixth Circuit held…
Secretary of Labor v. Blue Diamond Coal Company
Cable-splice settlement denied for weak support and bad math
The parties proposed resolving six citations for an asserted total of $2,699, including reductions to two damaged-cable-splice citations under 30 C.F.R. § 75.604(b). Judge William B. Moran found that the listed settlement amounts actually totaled $2,749 and that another table also contained a major…
Bronco Oilfield Services, Inc.
High-pressure line item partly affirmed
Bronco Oilfield Services used truck-mounted pumps and rigid piping to pressure-test an oil well at up to 9,500 psi. The judge affirmed a general duty clause instance because most of the high-pressure line was not secured against movement if a connection failed, and the company’s buffer zone did not…
Secretary of Labor v. Revelation Energy, LLC
Emergency-tracking settlement lacked enough facts
MSHA cited Revelation Energy for eight deficiencies in its mine-wide tracking and communication system, including untracked miners, dead tracking pads, limited working text pagers, and missing examination and failure records. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $2,665 to $2,265 because…
Michael K. McNary v. Alcoa World Alumina LLC
Interference complaint dismissed after emergency dispute
Michael McNary, an Alcoa employee and miners' representative, confronted a department superintendent during an emergency involving hot, pressurized slurry. McNary alleged that the superintendent threatened to remove him as a miners' representative, from the department, and from the plant because…
Secretary of Labor v. Mingo Logan Coal, LLC
Lifeline settlement rejected and hearing ordered
MSHA cited Mingo Logan Coal because loose rock, a track rail, and a wooden cable spoon lay beneath an alternate-escapeway lifeline for six crosscuts, allegedly making it ineffective during an emergency. The parties proposed cutting that citation's penalty in half while leaving its S&S designation…
T. E. Stevens Company, Inc.
Trench cave-in item affirmed
T. E. Stevens Company installed drain lines in a blasted and excavated trench at a grocery-store construction project. Testing classified the disturbed soil as Type B, and OSHA measured the trench at seven feet four inches deep and fourteen feet wide where two employees were working. The resulting…
Secretary of Labor v. N.J. Wilbanks Contractor, Inc.
Three brake violations upheld but penalties cut to $6,000
N.J. Wilbanks used three Caterpillar scrapers whose pedal-operated service brakes had not worked since the machines arrived at a future quarry site. The company argued that MSHA lacked jurisdiction before mineral production began and that operators could stop the machines by lowering their bowls…
Secretary of Labor obo Louis Silva, Jr. v. Aggregate Industries WRC, Inc.
Cell-phone spoliation sanctions denied
Aggregate Industries sought sanctions after Louis Silva returned a company cell phone that had been reset to factory settings and no longer contained user data. The company requested dismissal, an adverse inference, limits on Silva's testimony, and reimbursement of its fees and costs. Silva stated…
Auchly Roofing, Inc.
Roof and ladder fall items affirmed
Five Auchly Roofing employees worked on a steep residential roof 11 to 18 feet above the ground without an approved fall-protection system. The company relied on toe boards, pick boards, ladder jacks, and kneepads, but did not prove that compliant systems created a greater hazard or that it…
Payton Roofing, Inc.
Three roof fall items affirmed
OSHA inspected Payton Roofing crews at two residential buildings and cited several fall-protection conditions. After multiple items were withdrawn, the judge addressed an unguarded roof opening, two employees connected to a single-user anchorage, and a damaged lifeline that had not been removed…
Thomas Lee Kreimier v. Coeur Alaska, Incorporated
Sleeping-on-duty evidence defeated retaliation claim
Thomas Kreimier reported that a supervisor instructed another worker to cross a locked gate to restart a crusher, and Coeur Alaska fired Kreimier about six weeks later. Kreimier alleged retaliation, while the company said he was terminated for sleeping in the mill control room during two…
Secretary of Labor v. Solar Sources, Inc.
Special-assessment settlement denied before Commission reversal
A miner fell nearly 14 feet from an end-dump truck after an obstructing rope caught his hard hat and a severely corroded handrail chain broke. MSHA specially assessed one of three related citations at $68,300, but the parties proposed replacing that amount with a $4,548 regular assessment and…
Secretary of Labor obo Jonathan Holskey v. Pennyrile Energy, LLC
Temporary economic reinstatement approved
The Judge had previously ordered Pennyrile Energy to return Jonathan Holskey to his former job after finding his discrimination complaint non-frivolous. The parties then negotiated temporary economic reinstatement instead of Holskey physically returning to the Riveredge Mine. Judge Kenneth R…
Secretary of Labor v. Blanchard Machinery Company
Conventional discovery allowed
The Chief Judge assigned Blanchard Machinery's two-citation case to the Commission's streamlined Simplified Proceedings process. Blanchard asked to leave that process because it wanted written discovery, an inspector deposition, possible expert testimony, and a potential summary-decision motion…
Secretary of Labor v. Brody Mining, LLC
Seven orders reassessed at $85,000 on remand
The Commission remanded findings for seven section 104(d)(2) orders issued at Brody Mine No. 1 for coal accumulations, ventilation-plan failures, an inadequate preshift examination, a flooded escapeway, and an unguarded shuttle-car opening. Judge L. Zane Gill reconsidered S&S, unwarrantable…
Matter of Alex Pieniazek OBSHATKO
Protection-order removability is based on reliable evidence
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s appeal after an Immigration Judge terminated removal proceedings against an Uzbek lawful permanent resident who had been convicted of criminal contempt for violating a state protection order. The Immigration Judge used the categorical…
Secretary of Labor v. Olmos Contracting 1, LLC
Five reopenings denied and one assessment remanded
Olmos Contracting asked the Commission to reopen seven penalty matters, arguing that inexperienced office staff mishandled assessments and that the penalties threatened the company's business. The Commission found the oldest request barred by the one-year limit and denied four others because Olmos…
The Thomas J. Dyer Company
Gas-cylinder storage item vacated
The Thomas J. Dyer Company kept oxygen and fuel-gas cylinders in separate compartments of a steel cage while performing daily welding and cutting work at a medical-center project. The judge found that OSHA did not prove the cylinders were “in storage” because the cage was accessed as needed and gas…
GMJ Contracting Corp. d/b/a GMJ Masonry
Wrong settlement order set aside
An administrative law judge approved and docketed a settlement agreement in GMJ Masonry’s case. The agreement actually concerned a different GMJ citation in another docket and did not resolve the one-item serious citation at issue here. The approval order nevertheless became final because the error…
Aspen Products, Inc.
Settlement correction remanded to judge
An administrative law judge approved a settlement in two consolidated Aspen Products cases. The Secretary later reported that a typographical error caused the agreement to group the wrong violations and substitute the wrong violation. The normal response period for Aspen’s position on the…
Coastal Energy Corporation
In re Coastal Energy Corporation (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 17-04): reconsideration denied for state-issued permit
Jill Bailey sought review of Missouri Permit No. MO-G491369, a state general operating permit issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources under Missouri's approved NPDES program. The Board had earlier dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction because the permit was state-issued…
Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Midwest Mining, LLC
Amended partial settlement approved for $33,300
Peabody Midwest Mining sought to settle three citations involving excessive entry width, an allegedly inadequate preshift examination, and roof-support conditions. The initial motion proposed reducing penalties from $54,200 to $33,300 but stated only that substantial factual disputes existed while…
Matter of J-A-B- & I-J-V-A-
Removal proceedings cannot be terminated for a second asylum screening
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s appeal after an Immigration Judge terminated removal proceedings against two Mexican arriving applicants who had expressed fear of return and were later paroled into the United States. The Immigration Judge wanted to give them an opportunity…
Secretary of Labor v. A&G Coal Corporation
Default issue reserved for hearing after Commission remand
A&G Coal failed to join a scheduled conference call, did not respond to a show-cause order, and was defaulted in five penalty cases. The Commission remanded because the record was unclear about who represented A&G and whether the company received the show-cause order. Judge David P. Simonton found…
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.