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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Empire Iron Mining Partnership
Part 48 training violations may carry S&S designations
MSHA cited Empire Iron Mining Partnership for alleged violations of new-miner and new-task training requirements and designated both violations significant and substantial. Empire sought partial summary decision, arguing that Part 48 training regulations are not mandatory health or safety standards…
Black Diamond Construction, Inc.
EAJA award affirmed and remanded for additional fees
Black Diamond Construction performed work to eliminate a coal refuse impoundment so longwall mining could proceed beneath it. MSHA cited two Black Diamond employees under the Part 48 training rules, but the Secretary later vacated the citations before trial. An ALJ awarded Black Diamond $14,390.25…
Kelly Trucking Company
Training orders modified and $470 assessed
Kelly Trucking Company was cited after two people working around a dragline had not received required new-miner training and daily examination results were not recorded. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that the company was operating a mine and that the training and recordkeeping violations occurred. He…
S H M Coal Company
Illegal mining findings and penalties affirmed in part
The Secretary alleged that three independent contractors were operating an unlicensed surface coal mine while claiming to prepare a house site. Judge George A. Koutras found that the activity was surface mining subject to the Mine Act and affected interstate commerce. He affirmed violations for…
Kelley Trucking Company
Settlement approved at $100 after remand, alternate release
Kelley Trucking faced a civil penalty proceeding involving a citation under 30 C.F.R. § 48.25(a). After remand, the parties proposed affirming the citation while reducing the original $400 assessment to $100. Judge John J. Morris approved the settlement, affirmed the citation, and assessed the $100…
Kelley Trucking Company
Settlement approved at $100 after remand
Kelley Trucking faced a civil penalty proceeding involving a citation under 30 C.F.R. § 48.25(a). After remand, the parties proposed affirming the citation while reducing the original $400 assessment to $100. Judge John J. Morris found the settlement reasonable and in the public interest, approved…
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.