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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Southern Scrap Materials Co., Inc.
Lead, cadmium, first-aid, and guarding violations yield $114,500 penalty
Southern Scrap Materials operated a Louisiana scrap-recycling facility where workers torch cut metal and used industrial machinery. The Commission rejected the company's broad challenges to OSHA's inspection, testing, and the validity of the lead and cadmium standards. It found that Southern…
Ten-Mile Coal Company, Inc.
Two-day-late contest reopened
Ten-Mile Coal mailed its contest two days late after its office manager misplaced the proposed assessment. The operator moved to reopen within ten days of MSHA's delinquency letter, said this was its first late contest since operations began in 2007, and created a computer system to prevent…
Troy Mine, Inc.
Reopening request dismissed because contest was timely
Troy Mine asked to reopen a penalty assessment after MSHA said the company had not filed a timely contest. The company produced certified-mail receipts showing delivery to MSHA. The Secretary then confirmed that the assessment was already part of an active civil penalty case. The Commission found…
H & B Crushing, LLC
Reopening denied for three assessments
H & B Crushing sought to reopen three final penalty assessments, claiming they had been delivered to a restaurant rather than its business. The Secretary opposed reopening and produced evidence that the assessments were delivered and signed for at the operator's address of record, that other…
Robinson Nevada Mining Co.
Final assessment reopened and remanded
Robinson Nevada Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final when it was not contested within 30 days. The Secretary did not oppose the request. In the interests of justice, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief…
Alpha Explosives
Undelivered assessment remanded
Alpha Explosives asked the Commission to reopen a proposed penalty assessment after receiving a delinquency letter. The operator said the assessment had been mailed to the wrong address, and the Secretary confirmed that it was returned undelivered. Because Alpha never received the assessment, the…
Vulcan Construction Materials, LP
Timely response defeats default
Vulcan Construction Materials sought to reopen a civil-penalty case after an ALJ entered default for failure to answer the Secretary's penalty petition. Vulcan showed that it had timely responded to the ALJ's show-cause order and supplied FedEx tracking information confirming delivery to the…
Jackson Enterprises, Inc.
Default vacated after answer misdirected
Jackson Enterprises defaulted after failing to file an answer with the Commission in response to a show-cause order. The operator said it had timely answered the Secretary's penalty petition but apparently mailed the answer only to the Secretary, and it said it never received the show-cause order…
Industrial Minerals, Inc.
Erroneous default remanded
An ALJ entered default after concluding that Industrial Minerals failed to answer a show-cause order. The operator produced certified-mail receipts showing that the Commission's docket office timely received both its response to the show-cause order and its later response to the default order. The…
Eighty Four Mining Company
Unreceived default orders remanded
A Chief Administrative Law Judge entered defaults in three penalty cases after Eighty Four Mining did not answer the Secretary's petitions or show-cause orders. The operator explained that the papers were mailed to a mine portal that had been closed, vacated, and locked since 2009. MSHA records…
Big Ridge, Inc.
Mistaken penalty payment reopened
Big Ridge sought to reopen a $212 penalty assessment even though the underlying citation was already being contested before the Commission. The operator explained that its compliance manager mistakenly paid the penalty after overlooking the citation among sixty-one other citations and orders on the…
Jason Falk, employed by Lafarge Utica, Inc.
Individual penalty reopened
Jason Falk sought to reopen an individual civil-penalty assessment under section 110(c) of the Mine Act. He said the assessment was sent to another Lafarge operation and never reached him or his employer, Lafarge Utica. The Secretary did not oppose reopening but noted that Falk had declined to…
Luminant Mining Company, LLC
Final assessment reopened and remanded
Luminant Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after the contest period expired. The Secretary did not oppose the request. In the interests of justice, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief Administrative Law Judge. It…
Connolly-Pacific Company
Highwall violations and withdrawal order upheld
MSHA cited Connolly-Pacific after finding miners and equipment working below an approximately 300-foot quarry highwall with loose and overhanging rock, no benches, incomplete barriers, and no scaling. Judge Margaret Miller found that observation, spotters, limited blasting, and a loader cab did not…
USA Cleaning Service & Building Maintenance
EAJA fee request denied
MSHA withdrew three janitors from a cement facility on the ground that they needed comprehensive new-miner training, then vacated the order within ten days. USA Cleaning sought $22,000 in attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Judge Thomas McCarthy held that the company…
Grand Eagle Mining, Inc.
Simplified proceedings denied
MSHA sought to place a $100 fire-extinguisher citation in the Commission's simplified-proceedings track. Grand Eagle opposed the request after raising a Fourth Amendment challenge to the inspector's search of an electrician's personal truck and seeking discovery. Judge Thomas McCarthy found that…
Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs, Inc.
Timely-contest evidence requires further proceedings
OSHA cited Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs for four serious construction violations and proposed $10,000 in penalties. An administrative law judge dismissed what appeared to be a late notice of contest and affirmed the citations. On review, the company produced a letter apparently faxed to OSHA within…
Aerospace Manufacturing CT Systems, LLC
Civil case stayed during criminal review
After a workplace fatality, OSHA issued Aerospace Manufacturing a willful citation and referred the matter to the Department of Justice for possible criminal proceedings. The administrative law judge denied the Secretary's request to stay the Commission case because no indictment had been issued…
American Coal Company
Special-assessment forms ordered disclosed
American Coal moved to compel MSHA to produce special-assessment review forms and eight internal memoranda. Judge Gary Melick held that the review forms were not protected by the deliberative-process privilege because MSHA adopted their recommendations when it issued the citations, and because the…
CAM Mining, LLC
Late penalty petitions dismissed
CAM Mining moved for summary decision because the Secretary filed three penalty petitions about four months after they were due. The Secretary did not respond, and Judge Gary Melick found that the asserted explanation concerned delivery of the original assessment rather than a later litigation…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Belt-examination order modified
Jim Walter Resources did not conduct an on-shift examination of three belt haulageways during a shift when the belts operated and miners worked nearby, while coal was produced elsewhere in the mine. Judge Jacqueline Bulluck held that section 75.362(b) required examination of each operated belt…
Matter of Paula CRUZ DE ORTIZ
Rescission limits do not bar removal after immigrant-visa admission
The Board reviewed DHS's appeal after an Immigration Judge terminated removal proceedings against a Dominican lawful permanent resident. The respondent had been admitted with an immigrant visa after a prior conviction and alleged immigration fraud, and the Immigration Judge applied the 5-year…
T & F Systems, Inc.
Willful low-slope roof fall violation affirmed
T & F Systems employees installed roofing material on an Ohio high school roof about 25 feet above lower levels. The judge found that the roof was about 80 feet wide, so a safety-monitoring system alone could not satisfy the cited fall-protection standard. The evidence also showed that the company…
Broan-Nutone Storage Solutions, LP
Power-press supervision and guarding violations affirmed
A Broan-Nutone machine operator's hand was amputated when a mechanical power press cycled while she was clearing a jam. The judge found that she received almost no instruction or supervision when assigned to the press, which lacked the light-curtain protection used on the facility's other presses…
Carter Roag Coal Company
Final assessment reopened
Carter Roag Coal Company asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It…
Big River Mining, LLC
Three reopening motions denied
Big River sought to reopen three assessments covering 147 enforcement actions and $281,919 in proposed penalties. Delivery records showed that each assessment was received and signed for at the mine, but the documents did not reach the superintendent or safety director while the idled mine reduced…
H&D Mining, Inc.
Years-late reopening request denied
H&D Mining sought to reopen penalty assessments three to five years after they became final, citing a mine shutdown and unfamiliarity with the contest process. The Secretary opposed relief, noting years of unanswered delinquency notices, $207,278 referred for collection, and a federal collection…
Con-Agg of MO, LLC
Renewed reopening request granted
Con-Agg renewed a request to reopen six penalty citations after the Commission denied its first request for insufficient detail. The operator explained that it discovered the assessment in MSHA's database during a company sale, could not locate the original package, promptly paid the citations it…
Matter of Antonio FIGUEROA
New evidence may support a renewed TPS application
The Board reviewed the appeal of a Salvadoran respondent whose Temporary Protected Status application had been denied by USCIS for insufficient proof of continuous residence. It held that an Immigration Judge considering a renewed TPS application in removal proceedings may consider any material and…
Matter of Francisco HERRERA DEL ORDEN
New evidence may support a conditional-residence waiver
The Board reviewed a Puerto Rico respondent's challenge to the denial of his waiver of the joint-petition requirement for removing the conditional basis of his lawful permanent resident status. The Immigration Judge had limited the review to evidence previously submitted to DHS, even though the…
Mammoth Coal Co.
Interlocutory review and stay denied
The Secretary amended a penalty petition to allege two flagrant escapeway violations and increased the proposed penalties from $133,000 to $335,200. Mammoth Coal sought interlocutory review, arguing that allowing the amendment improperly modified the original assessment before the Commission's de…
Chief Mining, Inc.
Final assessment reopened
Chief Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief Administrative Law…
Hinkle Trucking, Inc.
Final assessment reopened
Hinkle Trucking asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It directed…
Ash Grove Cement Company
Final assessment reopened
Ash Grove Cement Company asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It…
Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc.
Misdirected assessment reopened
Clean Harbors missed a contest deadline after MSHA addressed the assessment to a former employee, delaying delivery to the company's general counsel. Outside counsel filed a notice that the general counsel mistakenly believed was timely, and the company moved to reopen within 30 days of receiving a…
Cemex California Cement, LLC
Final assessment reopened
Cemex California Cement asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief…
Lehigh Southwest Cement Co.
Final assessment reopened
Lehigh Southwest Cement asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after the company did not timely contest it. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter…
Banner Blue Coal Company
Two-day-late contest reopened
Banner Blue sent its contest form and payment for uncontested citations to MSHA's payment center two days after the assessment became final. The payment center forwarded the contest to the civil-penalty office, which processed it as late. The operator said it was implementing new procedures for…
G & R Mineral Services, Inc.
Final assessment reopened
G & R Mineral Services asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It…
Black Panther Mining, LLC
Final assessment reopened
Black Panther Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief…
Byholt, Inc.
Reopening denied without prejudice
Byholt sought to reopen two assessments after misunderstanding when it needed to contest several section 104(d) citations and orders. The Secretary opposed relief because the assessment forms contained contest instructions and the operator did not explain delays of three and four months after…
Big Ridge, Inc.
Multiple violations decided and penalties assessed
Big Ridge contested enforcement actions involving hazardous-condition examinations, its roof-control plan, combustible accumulations, electrical equipment, a tool-transport safeguard, and equipment permissibility at the Willow Lake Portal mine. Judge Gary Melick affirmed four enforcement actions as…
Meridian Aggregates Company, LP
Final assessment reopened
Meridian Aggregates asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final. Meridian said it mailed its contest three days after receiving the assessment but learned that MSHA had not received it only when a delinquency notice arrived. The company filed its motion within 30 days…
Dolet Hills Lignite Co., LLC
Final assessment reopened
Dolet Hills Lignite asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It…
Nelson Quarries, Inc.
Inadvertently paid citation reopened
Nelson Quarries timely paid a proposed assessment in full even though it intended to contest one citation and believed it had evidence of compliance. The operator said the citation's penalty was paid inadvertently and moved to reopen about five weeks after the assessment became final. The Secretary…
Robert's Coffee & Vending Service, LLC
Final assessment reopened
Robert's Coffee & Vending Service asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the…
Allied Custom Gypsum
Final assessment reopened
Allied Custom Gypsum asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded it for further proceedings. It…
Higman Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Final assessment reopened
Higman Sand & Gravel asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after the company did not timely contest it. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to…
Otis Elevator Company
Remaining fall-protection item withdrawn
OSHA cited Otis Elevator over fall protection used while installing a new elevator platform system. The administrative law judge vacated two scaffold-based allegations but affirmed an alternative allegation that employee lifelines were attached to the same overhead beam used for the platform's…
Hidden Splendor Resources, Inc.
Special-assessment review form protected from discovery
Hidden Splendor sought MSHA's Special Assessment Review form, which contained facts and agency officials' recommendations used to classify violations as flagrant and enhance penalties. Judge Priscilla M. Rae held that the form was prepared in anticipation of likely litigation and was protected work…
Black Mountain Industrial Minerals, LLC
Final assessments reopened
Black Mountain Industrial Minerals asked the Commission to reopen two penalty assessments that had become final after no timely contests. The Secretary did not oppose the requests. After reviewing the requests and the circumstances, the Commission reopened both assessments and remanded the matter…
Drumlummon Gold Corporation
Final assessment reopened after manager's leave
Drumlummon Gold failed to contest assessments for 13 violations while the safety manager responsible for processing them was on unexpectedly extended medical leave. The company had no backup system, but it filed for reopening within days of the manager's return and about one month after the…
Twentymile Coal, LLC
Final assessment reopened
Twentymile Coal asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. After reviewing the request, the circumstances, and the Secretary's response, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief Administrative Law Judge. It…
Keokee Mining LLC
Final assessment reopened
Keokee Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief Administrative…
Grove City Materials
Final assessment reopened
Grove City Materials asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become final after no timely contest. The Secretary did not oppose the request. After reviewing the request and the circumstances, the Commission reopened the assessment and remanded the matter to the Chief…
Sterzinger Construction
Assessment never became final after failed delivery
MSHA tried to deliver Sterzinger Construction's proposed penalty assessment by Federal Express and then by mail, but neither attempt succeeded. Sterzinger later learned of the assessment and received a faxed copy from MSHA. The Commission held that the assessment had not become a final order…
Buena Vista Rancheria Wastewater Treatment Plant (Casino)
In re Buena Vista Rancheria Wastewater Treatment Plant (Casino) (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 10-05, 10-06, 10-07, and 10-13): NPDES permit review denied
EPA Region 9 issued an NPDES permit for the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians to operate a wastewater treatment plant serving the Buena Vista Casino in California. Four petitioners challenged the permit, raising issues about EPA's jurisdiction, wastewater flow calculations, effluent limits…
Pinnacle Mining Company
Mine-control order upheld after suspected gob fire
Pinnacle detected elevated carbon monoxide in an inaccessible longwall gob at its gassy underground coal mine, withdrew miners, and later challenged MSHA's section 103(k) control order and refusal to approve its re-ventilation plan. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy credited MSHA's expert and found it more…
Dynamic Energy, Inc.
Three equipment violations upheld and $38,000 assessed
MSHA cited Dynamic Energy for a highwall drill with defective ladder steps and head guides, a portal bus with defective brakes, exhaust, steering, and accelerator systems, and a front-end loader with unsafe tire and equipment conditions. Judge Alan G. Paez found all three violations significant and…
Peabody Western Coal Company
In re Peabody Western Coal Company (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 10-15 and 10-16): review denied
Peabody Western Coal Company received an EPA Region 9 NPDES renewal permit for discharges from its Black Mesa Complex on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. The petitioners challenged the permit under the Clean Water Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and permit procedures. The EAB rejected…
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.