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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Emerald Coal Resources, LP and Cumberland Coal Resources, LP
Refuge-chamber purchase-order requirement upheld
Emerald and Cumberland proposed emergency response plans using refuge chambers to provide 96 hours of breathable air, but wanted 60 days after plan approval to place purchase orders. MSHA required purchase orders within two days of approval and cited the operators when negotiations reached an…
Austin Powder Company
Detonator magazine-storage citations affirmed
Austin Powder stored non-mass-detonating detonators in a metal freight container whose ceiling had a sparking surface and whose vents were covered. The Commission majority held that the plain language of MSHA's rules requires all detonators, not only mass-detonating types, to be stored in compliant…
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…
Cannelton Industries, Inc.
Accumulation violation affirmed and remanded
Cannelton Industries was cited after inspectors found a large accumulation of coal and coal dust beneath a conveyor belt at its underground mine. The Commission affirmed that Cannelton violated 30 C.F.R. § 75.400, but vacated the finding that the violation resulted from unwarrantable failure and…
Broken Hill Mining Company
Commission affirms $1,000 penalty
Broken Hill Mining was assessed a penalty after MSHA found that a miner carried a cigarette lighter underground, which the Commission treated as evidence of an inadequate smoking-material search program. The Commission affirmed a $1,000 penalty after finding that the judge properly considered the…
Blue Bayou Sand and Gravel, Inc.
Defective brakes were S&S and created an imminent danger, with penalty reassessment remanded
Blue Bayou Sand and Gravel operated an open-pit sand and gravel mine where an inspector found a loaded haulage truck with service and parking brakes that did not work. The ALJ found a violation of the brake standard, but concluded that it was not significant and substantial and that the defective…
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.