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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Oak Grove Resources, LLC
Personnel-carrier sanding safeguard upheld against facial challenge
After seven other citations were settled, Oak Grove challenged two citations alleging that personnel carriers lacked properly working sanding devices required by a mine-specific safeguard. The company argued that the safeguard was facially invalid because it did not separately spell out the…
Matter of D-K-
Refugees must be charged under deportability grounds after admission
The Board reviewed the removal case of a Macedonian national who entered the United States as a refugee and was later convicted of distributing cocaine near a public school. It held that a refugee who has not adjusted status to lawful permanent residence may be placed in removal proceedings without…
Matter of M-W-
Reckless second-degree murder qualifies as aggravated felony murder
The Board reviewed the removal case of a Polish national who entered the United States as a refugee, later became a lawful permanent resident, and was convicted in Michigan of two counts of second-degree murder after a fatal traffic incident. The Board held that a conviction for murder under a…
Millard Refrigerated Services
Mixed ruling after major ammonia release
About 32,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia escaped from a cracked roof header and a broken evaporator coil at Millard's refrigerated warehouse. Roughly 150 people were taken to hospitals and released, and the company lost about $4 million in product. The judge affirmed items involving unguarded…
Safe Environmental Corporation of Indiana (Cleveland Trencher Site)
In re Safe Environmental Corporation of Indiana (Cleveland Trencher Site) (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition No. 12-01): reimbursement petition dismissed as premature
Safe Environmental Corporation of Indiana sought reimbursement for costs incurred while performing removal activities at the Cleveland Trencher Site in Euclid, Ohio, under an EPA unilateral administrative order. The company submitted a final report, but EPA Region 5 found deficiencies, requested…
Pocahontas Coal Company, LLC
Special-assessment review forms held irrelevant to de novo penalty decision
MSHA proposed $29,400 in specially assessed penalties for two alleged failures to maintain required rock-dust percentages. Pocahontas Coal sought the Secretary's special-assessment review forms, arguing that they were needed to defend the case and discuss settlement. Judge Jerold Feldman held that…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Travis Caudill v. Cam Mining, LLC
Safety complaints caused discriminatory discharge
Preshift examiner Travis Caudill repeatedly told Cam Mining supervisors that he lacked enough time to inspect his assigned underground areas, especially after the ride used to reach the East Mains broke down. After MSHA found that the area had gone unexamined for about a week and issued an order…
Hopkins County Coal, LLC
Personnel-file demand and withdrawal order upheld
During an investigation of a fired miner's discrimination complaint, MSHA asked Hopkins County Coal for the complainant's personnel file and files of similarly situated employees. The company refused without employee releases or more detail about the alleged protected activity, so MSHA issued a…
Ponda International
In re Ponda International (EAB TSCA 12-01C): $30,692 penalty paid and case resolved
Ponda International was accused of violating sections 4 and 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA's complaint proposed a $30,692 civil penalty. The order states that EPA received a cashier's check for the full penalty to resolve the matter. The Environmental Appeals Board issued a Final…
Florida Rock Industries, Inc.
Two violations reduced to $750 total
At Florida Rock's Tampa sales yard, metal tent poles had been left for 11 days in the aisle of a locked storage container, and a small yard tractor had an intermittently malfunctioning headlight circuit. Senior Judge Michael E. Zielinski affirmed the housekeeping citation because the poles created…
Shell Offshore, Inc.
In re Shell Offshore, Inc. (EAB OCS Appeal Nos. 11-05, 11-06, and 11-07): review denied
EPA Region 10 issued Shell Offshore, Inc. a permit to construct and operate the Kulluk exploratory drilling unit and associated emission units in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, along with a Title V air-quality operating permit. Several conservation organizations, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope…
Sapphire Coal Company
Timely penalty contests sent for merits proceedings
Sapphire Coal asked the Commission to reopen two proposed penalty assessments that appeared to have become final because no timely contests were recorded. After reviewing the requests and the Secretary's responses, the Commission found that Sapphire had in fact contested both assessments on time…
Banner Blue Coal Company
Mixed citation rulings and settlements total $7,168
Banner Blue Coal litigated four underground coal citations and settled nine others. Judge George A. Koutras upheld two electrical-maintenance citations involving worn cathead latches, but removed the S&S designations and assessed $500 for each. He vacated a permissibility citation alleging a…
Teichert Construction
Truck inspection and trench-protection violations affirmed
A backing dump-truck fatality prompted OSHA to inspect Teichert's water-pipeline construction project. The judge found that the truck driver did not complete the required pre-shift vehicle check and that one brake push rod was out of adjustment when the truck was placed in service. He also found…
Conshor Mining, LLC
Flagrant-violation review vacated as moot
An ALJ certified for interlocutory review whether a violation that was not reckless could still be classified as flagrant based on an operator's history of similar violations. The Commission granted review and ordered briefing. The Secretary then withdrew the flagrant classifications for the three…
Northshore Mining Company
Partial shovel lockout violated full de-energization rule
Northshore miners performed mechanical work on a large electric shovel after locking out two low-voltage control breakers, while the machine remained connected to a 7,200-volt power source. Judge Janet G. Harner held that the electrical standard requires equipment to be fully de-energized before…
NewChem, Inc. Facility
In re NewChem, Inc. Facility (EAB RCRA (3008) 12-01): appeal dismissed after EPA withdrew challenged decision
NewChem, Inc. appealed EPA Region 3's November 29, 2011 Final Decision and Response to Comments concerning its proposed remedy. NewChem and EPA Region 3 later filed a joint notice of voluntary dismissal after working cooperatively to resolve the appeal. EPA withdrew the challenged final decision…
Amgen Manufacturing, Ltd.
In re Amgen Manufacturing, Ltd. (EAB NPDES 11-09): appeal dismissed after permit modifications agreement
Amgen Manufacturing, Ltd. appealed an NPDES permit issued by EPA Region 2 for permit PR0026695. Amgen and Region 2 asked the Board to stay the matter while they pursued settlement through the EAB's pilot alternative dispute resolution program. Amgen later reported that the parties reached a final…
Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority
In re Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (EAB NPDES 11-08): petition dismissed without prejudice during permit settlement
Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and EPA Region 2 reached a settlement through the Environmental Appeals Board's Alternative Dispute Resolution pilot program. The settlement required several modifications to PRASA's disputed NPDES permit through the public notice-and-comment process. The…
Matter of Miguel LEMUS-Losa
Unlawful presence bars section 245(i) adjustment without a waiver
The Board reconsidered a Mexican respondent's eligibility for adjustment of status under section 245(i) after he entered the United States without inspection, departed, and reentered without inspection. It reaffirmed that inadmissibility for more than one year of unlawful presence, followed by a…
Mining & Property Specialists
One-dollar penalty reaffirmed on remand
Mining & Property Specialists kept required electrical examination records at its office a few miles from the mine rather than at the mine site. An earlier ALJ decision upheld the violation but reduced the proposed $100 penalty to $1, and the Commission remanded for a fuller explanation of the…
Virginia Construction & Management Company, Inc.
Willful canopy fall violation affirmed
Two Virginia Construction employees chipped concrete on a canopy 16 feet 7 inches above a sidewalk without fall protection, safety-toe footwear, hard hats, or eye protection. They accessed the canopy by climbing an inadequately configured scaffold, and the company lacked qualified scaffold…
BP America Production Company, Florida River Compression Facility
In re BP America Production Company, Florida River Compression Facility (EAB CAA 10-04): petition dismissed with prejudice after settlement
WildEarth Guardians petitioned the Environmental Appeals Board to review BP America Production Company's Florida River Compression Facility permit in CAA Appeal No. 10-04. WildEarth moved to dismiss with prejudice after the parties entered into a settlement agreement effective February 6, 2012. The…
Loudoun Quarries, Division of Chantilly Crushed Stone, Inc.
Brake-light citation vacated and cord citation affirmed
MSHA cited Loudoun Quarries after finding inoperative brake lights on a parked spare loader and a pickup truck parked on an energized extension cord. Judge George A. Koutras vacated the brake-light citation because the loader had not been placed into service, no full preshift had occurred, and the…
Lehigh Southwest Cement Company
Final assessment reopened for merits proceedings
Lehigh Southwest Cement asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final order after no timely contest was recorded. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the parties' submissions, the Commission reopened the matter in the interests of justice. It…
Thompson Creek Mining Company
Default vacated after answer found in case file
A Chief ALJ entered default after Thompson Creek did not answer a penalty petition in the Commission's file by the show-cause deadline. Thompson Creek sought reopening, and the Secretary did not object because the regional Solicitor's office had an October 2010 answer in its case file. Although the…
Central State Aggregates, LLC
Default vacated after papers went to physical address
Central State Aggregates did not answer a penalty petition or show-cause order because the papers were sent to the mine's physical address instead of its mailing address. The resulting default became effective in April 2011. The Secretary did not oppose reopening but directed the company to correct…
RES Coal, LLC
Default vacated after timely answer was confirmed
A Chief ALJ entered default after the Commission did not receive RES Coal's answer to a penalty petition or its response to a show-cause order. RES Coal stated that it never received the show-cause order and had timely answered the original petition. The Secretary did not oppose reopening, and…
Bledsoe Coal Corporation
Default vacated after MSHA received timely answer
A Chief ALJ entered default after the Commission did not receive Bledsoe Coal's answer to a penalty petition or its response to a show-cause order. Bledsoe stated that it had timely answered the petition, and the Secretary confirmed that MSHA's District 7 office received the answer in July 2010…
San Juan Coal Company
Case reopened after partial settlement was applied too broadly
A Chief ALJ approved a settlement covering two San Juan Coal citations, but the decision was mistakenly applied to the entire assessment case. San Juan Coal still intended to contest two other citations, and the Secretary agreed that those citations were not part of the settlement. The Commission…
Peabody Western Coal Company
In re Peabody Western Coal Company (EAB CAA Appeal No. 11-01): Title V permit review denied
NNEPA administered a federal Clean Air Act Title V permit for Peabody Western Coal Company's Kayenta Mine under authority delegated by EPA. The permit cited both federal requirements and parallel Navajo Nation Operating Permit Regulations, and NNEPA used tribal procedures while processing permit…
Palmer Coking Coal Co., LLP
Mixed berm and electrical rulings yield $1,500 penalty
Palmer Coking Coal contested five citations at a Washington sand and gravel mine. Judge David F. Barbour upheld an S&S berm citation because rocks along a well-traveled road no longer provided adequate guidance above a steep drop-off, but reduced negligence from high to moderate and removed…
Weatherguard Construction Co., Inc.
Subcontractor roof fall violation affirmed
About seven roofing-subcontractor employees installed tar paper on a two-story house without fall protection. Weatherguard was the general contractor and controlling employer, and its field supervisor had visited the site, seen the roof work, and acknowledged that the same subcontractor had also…
Turner Industries Group, LLC
Chemical-turnaround training and assessment items affirmed
Turner employees replaced chemical-processing equipment during a plant turnaround in an area containing Tris, ethylene dichloride, and other hazardous substances. The company's special meeting focused mainly on Tris, did not cover all chemical hazards, and missed at least one employee who was sent…
Matter of Roderick B. LANFERMAN
Divisible firearms statute supports removability
The Board reconsidered the removal case of a Guyanese lawful permanent resident convicted in New York of second-degree menacing. The question was whether the New York statute was divisible for the modified categorical approach and whether the respondent's conviction involved a firearm offense. The…
Matter of Svetislav ILIC
Derivative section 245(i) eligibility depends on the principal beneficiary
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security's appeal from an Immigration Judge's grant of adjustment of status under section 245(i) to a Serbian respondent who had entered without inspection. The respondent claimed derivative grandfathered status through an immigrant visa petition filed…
Secretary of Labor v. Performance Coal Company and former Massey mines
Contests withdrawn and $19.86 million ordered paid
The order addresses 48 Upper Big Branch penalty dockets and more than one thousand dockets involving other former Massey mines. The April 5, 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion killed 29 miners, and Performance Coal accepted the related contributory citations and their penalties outside the Commission…
Oak Grove Resources, LLC
Missed weekly return-air examination draws $70,000 penalty
Oak Grove allowed 83 miners underground even though high water prevented certified examiners from traveling an entire return air course and completing required weekly ventilation checks. Judge William B. Moran rejected the company's duplication defense because an earlier citation arose two weeks…
Bill Simola, employed by United Taconite, LLC
LLC agents may face personal Mine Act penalties
MSHA sought to hold United Taconite coordinator Bill Simola personally liable under section 110(c) for alleged access and machine-guarding violations. Simola argued that the provision applies only to agents of corporations, not agents of limited liability companies. The Commission held that the…
Hatch Enterprises, Inc.
Torch-cutting PPE violation reduced to $350
At a small limestone mine, production supervisor Dewayne Lambert began cutting metal with a torch without putting on available safety goggles. Judge Priscilla M. Rae found that the eye-protection standard was violated and that the condition was S&S because sparks and glare were likely to cause a…
Skyline Dredging and Excavating, Inc.
Unreceived show-cause order prevented final default
A Chief ALJ issued a show-cause order after Skyline Dredging did not answer a penalty petition, and the order would have produced a default after 30 days. Both the petition and show-cause order were sent to Skyline's prior address and were never received. The Commission held that the default…
MMR Constructors, Inc.
Default reopened so the parties could submit their settlement
MMR Constructors did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition, and a Chief ALJ's show-cause order became an order of default after 30 days. MMR said it did not receive that order until months later and had been negotiating a settlement with MSHA. The Secretary first opposed reopening but later…
Erickson Air-Crane, Inc.
Tanker-truck fall citation vacated for lack of notice
Two Erickson employees repaired a helicopter rotor blade stored on top of a fuel tanker truck during high winds. A gust lifted the blade-box lid and caused one employee to fall about ten feet, sustaining serious injuries. The judge affirmed a general-duty-clause citation based on Erickson's policy…
Alvin J. Coleman & Son, Inc.
Timely answer required vacating the default
Alvin J. Coleman & Son did not appear to have answered the Secretary's penalty petition, so a Chief ALJ issued a show-cause order that would result in default after 30 days. Coleman said it had submitted a timely answer and had not received the show-cause order. The Secretary did not oppose…
E.R. Jahna Industries, Inc.
Timely response with wrong docket number prevented default
E.R. Jahna Industries did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition, prompting a Chief ALJ to issue a show-cause order that would become a default after 30 days. Jahna responded on time, but its filing contained a typographical error in the docket number. The Secretary did not oppose reopening…
Black Panther Mining, LLC
Belt-maintenance order vacated and two citations settled
MSHA alleged that Black Panther's maintenance chief repaired a conveyor belt without removing power and blocking the machinery against motion, an S&S and unwarrantable-failure violation of section 75.1725(c). Judge Thomas P. McCarthy credited the operator's witnesses that three circuits had been…
Spiro Mining, LLC
Reconsideration, recusal, and interlocutory review denied
Spiro Mining asked Judge Alan G. Paez to reconsider an earlier refusal to dismiss MSHA's penalty case, recuse himself for alleged bias, or certify the issues for immediate Commission review. The judge held that Spiro had not supported its interstate-commerce and failure-to-state-a-claim arguments…
Secretary of Labor v. The American Coal Company
Flagrant-accumulation case stayed for controlling Commission guidance
American Coal had tried two section 75.400 accumulation orders that MSHA designated as repeated flagrant violations. While Judge Thomas P. McCarthy was drafting his decision, the Commission accepted interlocutory review in Conshor Mining on whether a non-reckless violation could become flagrant…
Associated Underwater Services
Falling-piling dive assessment violation affirmed
An Associated Underwater Services diver worked about 140 feet underwater beside an 8,600-pound piling during installation of an oil-containment boom. The piling detached from a vibratory hammer and fell on the diver, killing him. The Commission held that the relevant hazard was a falling piling…
Thomas Industrial Coatings, Inc.
Willful lifesaving-skiff violation affirmed
A suspended scaffold collapsed about 100 feet above the Mississippi River while Thomas Industrial Coatings employees prepared to paint a bridge. Three employees remained suspended from lifelines, but a fourth fell into the river and died. The Commission vacated two fall-protection items because the…
Emerald Coal Resources, LP
Preshift violation upheld but unwarrantable failure removed
MSHA alleged that Emerald Coal's preshift examination failed to identify and record severely bent roof straps and loose roof material in a working section. Judge John Kent Lewis found that a reasonably prudent examiner would have recognized the condition as a hazard and that the inadequate…
Big Ridge, Inc.
Precautionary review petition denied as premature
Big Ridge sought discretionary review after an ALJ denied reconsideration of an order upholding the validity of an MSHA control order issued under section 103(j) and modified under section 103(k). The Commission found that the ALJ had not explicitly decided whether the order was reasonable, had not…
Twin Ridge Development, Inc.
Four final penalty assessments reopened
Twin Ridge Development asked the Commission to reopen four penalty assessments that had become final because it did not contest them within the Mine Act's 30-day deadline. The Secretary did not oppose the requests. The Commission explained that it may reopen final assessments in appropriate…
Farrell-Cooper Mining Company
Timely show-cause response meant no default occurred
Farrell-Cooper Mining did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition, prompting a show-cause order that would become a default after 30 days. Farrell-Cooper said it responded to that order on time, and the Secretary did not oppose reopening. The Secretary also confirmed that the regional solicitor…
Eureka Rock, LLC
Sole owner had to report his work hours to MSHA
Eureka Rock's sole owner and operator reported zero work hours on four quarterly MSHA forms because he believed an owner was not an employee. Judge Margaret A. Miller held that section 50.30-1 expressly includes proprietors, owners, and operators within its definition of employees. Because the…
Todd Joseph Properties
Fall and scaffold violations affirmed
Todd Joseph Properties was demolishing a church when OSHA observed two employees working near an unprotected second-floor edge about 15 feet above the ground. One employee also climbed a scaffold frame without a ladder and worked on its top platform without adequate fall protection. The judge found…
Daisy Construction Company
Willful trench violations affirmed
Daisy Construction was installing underground conduit during a road project when employees worked for hours in a trench more than seven feet deep with vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman and the acting superintendent both saw the work, knew trench protection was required, and did…
Cambria Contracting, Inc.
Asbestos violations reduced from willful to serious
Cambria Contracting removed trash and debris from the basements of interconnected abandoned warehouse buildings where friable asbestos pipe insulation was damaged and missing. Its employees used powered equipment, brooms, and shovels in debris later shown to contain asbestos. OSHA cited eleven…
Matter of L-S-
Humanitarian asylum may consider other serious harm
The Board reviewed the asylum case of an Albanian national who had suffered past political persecution but no longer had a well-founded fear of future persecution because country conditions had changed. It held that humanitarian asylum may be warranted not only when past persecution was so severe…
North American Drillers, LLC
Vacated pump citation left no live controversy
MSHA cited North American Drillers for using a non-permissible pump to dewater a completed shaft, then vacated the citation and moved to dismiss the contest and penalty proceedings. The Commission held that vacatur did not automatically end its jurisdiction because section 105(d) permits it to…
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.