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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Black Beauty Coal Company
Dust citation reduced, two safety citations vacated, and settlements approved
Black Beauty Coal contested three citations at its underground Air Quality mine and settled the other 31 violations in the docket. Judge Margaret A. Miller vacated a roof-control-plan citation because credible testimony showed that a continuous miner's pump motor was off before the operator entered…
Black Beauty Coal Company
Dust, ventilation, belt, and safeguard violations largely upheld
Black Beauty Coal contested 15 violations at its underground Air Quality #1 mine and settled the remaining violations in two dockets. Judge Margaret A. Miller affirmed an S&S respirable-dust overexposure but reduced negligence to moderate and assessed $20,000. She also upheld violations involving…
Secretary of Labor v. Knox Creek Coal Corporation
Tiller No. 1 cases produce $71,707 penalty
These consolidated cases covered dozens of citations and an order issued during an impact inspection at Knox Creek's methane-prone Tiller No. 1 underground coal mine. The litigated matters involved roof and rib control, preshift examinations, electrical permissibility and trailing cables, equipment…
Brooks Run Mining Co., LLC
Dust-citation findings modified and $7,700 assessed
Brooks Run did not dispute four significant and substantial violations of the respirable-dust limit at its Cucumber Mine, but both sides sought changes to gravity, negligence, and the number of miners affected. The judge found that isolated overexposures in two citations were reasonably likely…
Highland Mining Company
Respirable-dust violation draws a $5,000 penalty
Highland Mining did not dispute that respirable-dust sampling at its underground coal mine averaged 2.472 milligrams per cubic meter, above the limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.100(a). It also did not contest that the violation was significant and substantial. Judge Avram Weisberger found moderate…
Excel Mining, LLC
Respirable-dust citations vacated
MSHA cited Excel Mining after averaging respirable-dust samples from several occupations during single shifts at a mechanized mining unit. The Commission held that the Secretary's 1971 Finding barred single-shift sampling for enforcement because it found that such measurement would not accurately…
Consolidation Coal Company
Drill-dust citation dismissed after ventilation evidence
Consolidation Coal Company operated the Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine, where MSHA cited a ventilation-control condition involving drill dust around roof bolter operators. The remaining contested citation alleged that the mine violated 30 C.F.R. § 72.630(d), while a prior partial…
Consolidation Coal Company
Dust withdrawal order vacated
Consolidation Coal's Robinson Run No. 95 Mine had respirable dust readings well above the limit in the belt-cleaner position. MSHA issued a citation requiring abatement and repeated sampling, then issued a section 104(b) withdrawal order after the operator's sampling efforts did not produce five…
Costain Coal Incorporated
Respiratory-dust penalties and settlements resolved
Costain Coal operated the Baker Mine and Smith Underground No. 1. The proceedings involved excessive respirable-dust samples from mechanized mining units and a designated area, along with citations resolved through settlements. Judge Jerold Feldman found the dust violations significant and…
Consolidation Coal Company
Failure-to-abate order vacated after invalid dust sample
Consolidation Coal challenged a withdrawal order issued after MSHA alleged that the operator had not abated a respirable-dust citation at the Robinson Run No. 95 Mine. The underlying citation was based on samples averaging more than the applicable dust limit, and later samples were used to…
Basin Resources, Incorporated
Respiratory dust order affirmed with $5,000 penalty
Basin Resources operated the underground Golden Eagle coal mine in Colorado, which later closed. Judge Richard W. Manning denied the Secretary's motion to add Basin's parent companies as mine operators because the evidence did not show that they controlled or supervised the mine's day-to-day…
Manalapan Mining Company, Incorporated
Preshift violation reversed and remanded
Manalapan Mining operated underground coal mines in Kentucky. The Commission reviewed whether violations involving fire suppression, fire extinguishers, and a preshift examination were significant and substantial. It left standing the ALJ's findings for the fire suppression and fire-extinguisher…
New Warwick Mining Co.
Dust sampling violation affirmed
New Warwick Mining operated the Warwick Mine in Pennsylvania. The Commission reviewed whether the company violated the respirable-dust sampling rule by collecting designated-occupation samples inside a miner’s airstream helmet. It affirmed the ALJ’s findings that the sampling method violated 30…
Energy West Mining Company
Penalty reduced after remand
Energy West Mining Company conceded a respirable-dust violation at its Cottonwood Mine after samples averaged 2.2 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 milligram limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.100(a). The Commission had affirmed the failure-to-abate order but vacated the original $3,000 penalty…
Peabody Coal Company
Respiratory-dust penalties reduced on remand
The Commission remanded three respirable-dust violations for penalty reassessment after rejecting unwarrantable-failure and high-negligence findings. On remand, the judge found ordinary negligence, affirmed the violations as section 104(a) violations, and reduced the penalty to $1,500 for each…
C.W. Mining Company
Respirable-dust citation vacated
C.W. Mining Company's Bear Canyon #1 Mine was cited after five operator dust samples averaged 1.9 milligrams of respirable dust per cubic meter. MSHA had assigned a 1.2-milligram limit to a replacement continuous miner, but that lower limit belonged to an older machine that had been scrapped. The…
Energy West Mining Company
Failure-to-abate order upheld, penalty remanded
Energy West Mining Company was cited after respirable-dust sampling at a mining unit showed concentrations above the applicable limit. The ALJ upheld a section 104(b) failure-to-abate order and assessed a $3,000 civil penalty. The Commission majority affirmed the order because substantial evidence…
Peabody Coal Company
Negligence findings reversed and penalties remanded
Peabody Coal Company was cited after respirable-dust sampling showed violations of the applicable limit at continuous-miner units. The ALJ found high negligence and unwarrantable failure and assessed $15,000 in civil penalties. The Commission reversed those findings, concluding that the ALJ applied…
Consolidation Coal Company
Dust-abatement violation affirmed as non-S&S
Consolidation Coal Company was cited after it did not timely reduce respirable dust at its Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine during the abatement period for an earlier dust citation. The Commission affirmed in result the judge's determination that the conceded dust-abatement violation was not…
Brushy Creek Coal Co., Inc.
Settlements approved at $4,286
Brushy Creek Coal faced two proposed penalties involving respirable dust and an underground fire-suppression system. The respirable-dust matter involved samples averaging 2.3 mg/m3 against a 2.0 mg/m3 limit, and the fire-suppression matter involved nozzles that were not directed at the top belt…
Cross Mountain Coal Inc.
Mixed citation dispositions and settlements ordered
Cross Mountain Coal was cited at its No. 6 Mine for electrical, respirable-dust, cable-splice, and roof-control conditions. The judge found violations involving ground-monitor circuits, a trailing-cable splice, roof support, and failure to follow the approved roof control plan. The judge modified…
Peabody Coal Company
Multiple citations affirmed or modified, $3,081 assessed
Peabody Coal operated the Camp No. 11 underground mine in Kentucky and faced citations involving rock dust, ventilation, roof dust, a trailing cable, and respirable dust. The judge found that the rock dust violation was significant and substantial because methane and other conditions made an…
Peabody Coal Company
Respiratory-dust citations affirmed
MSHA cited Peabody Coal Company after respirable-dust sampling exceeded the applicable limit on three mechanized mining units at the Camp No. 1 Mine. Peabody conceded that the violations occurred and were significant and substantial, but disputed the findings of unwarrantable failure, high…
Keystone Coal Mining Corporation
Spot-inspection citations vacated
MSHA cited Keystone Coal Mining Corporation for respirable-dust concentrations based on single-shift samples from a spot-inspection program. The Commission held that the program attempted to rescind an earlier finding that single-shift sampling did not accurately represent miners' exposure, and…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Dust-control plans reinstated after partial contest grant
Jim Walter Resources contested two citations alleging that its No. 3 Mine lacked an approved dust-control plan for longwall and continuous mining operations. A single sample exceeded the 2.0 mg/m3 respirable-dust limit, but later samples were compliant and no repeat violation was shown. Judge…
Keystone Coal Mining Corp.
Single-shift dust citations vacated for lack of rulemaking
MSHA cited Keystone Coal Mining Corp. after single-shift respirable-dust samples exceeded 2.0 milligrams per cubic meter at its Emilie No. 1 and Margaret No. 11 mines. The citations were issued under MSHA's 1991 spot-inspection program, which directed inspectors to cite operators based on a single…
Keystone Coal Mining Corp.
Summary decision denied in respirable-dust contest
Keystone Coal Mining challenged citations based on single-shift respirable-dust samples taken under MSHA's spot-inspection program. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the record did not establish whether the change from multi-shift to single-shift sampling affected the operator's substantive rights…
Twentymile Coal Company
Respiratory-dust citation affirmed as significant and substantial
MSHA cited Twentymile Coal after five valid samples showed an average respirable-dust concentration of 2.1 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 limit. The parties agreed that the violation occurred and asked the judge to decide whether the citation could be designated significant and…
Peabody Coal Company
Respiratory-dust citation affirmed and $100 penalty assessed
MSHA cited Peabody Coal after five respirable-dust samples averaged 2.1 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 mg/m3 regulatory limit. Peabody argued that the 86 percent confidence level associated with the sampling results was too low to prove a violation. Judge Gary Melick found that credible…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Respirable-dust citation affirmed
Jim Walter Resources was cited after respirable-dust samples from a longwall mining unit averaged 2.6 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 milligrams per cubic meter limit in the cited standard. The company did not dispute the sample results but challenged MSHA's direction to change the…
Zeigler Coal Company
One citation vacated and one settled
Zeigler Coal Company faced two civil penalty proceedings involving its Murdock and Spartan Mines. Judge George A. Koutras vacated a citation alleging that a continuous miner's emergency-stop foot switch was not maintained in safe operating condition because MSHA determined that the cited standard…
Consolidation Coal Company
Respirable-dust citation affirmed as S&S with $300 penalty
Consolidation Coal's Ireland Mine was cited after five respirable-dust samples averaged 2.1 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 mg/m³ limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.100(a). The judge treated the admitted overexposure as significant and substantial under Commission precedent, and noted a prior…
Southern Ohio Coal Company
Dust citation vacated and proceeding dismissed
The Commission reviewed a citation alleging that Southern Ohio Coal Company's respirable-dust concentration exceeded the limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.100(a). The citation was based on twelve samples averaging 2.1 milligrams of dust per cubic meter. The Secretary later determined that one sample was not…
Midacontinent Resources, Inc.
Respirable-dust citation affirmed with penalty reduced to $300
Midacontinent Resources was cited after samples showed that miner Verlin F. Windedahl, a Part 90 miner, was exposed to respirable dust above the 1.0 milligram-per-cubic-meter limit. Judge John J. Morris found that the operator violated 30 C.F.R. § 90.100 and rejected its challenges to the sampling…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Respirable-dust settlement approved and penalties reduced to $40
Jim Walter Resources, Inc. faced two respirable-dust violations at the Bessie Mine. The original penalties totaled $272, and the parties proposed settlements totaling $40. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement after considering the parties' representation that miners in the designated…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Respiratory-dust citations affirmed with $1,750 in penalties
Jim Walter Resources faced 11 citations across several mines for excessive respirable-dust concentrations. The parties stipulated that the cited conditions violated 30 C.F.R. §§ 70.100(a) or 70.101, and that respirators were made available to employees. Judge Paul Merlin held that providing…
Webster County Coal Corp.
Respirable dust citation affirmed as significant and substantial
Webster County Coal challenged the significant-and-substantial designation on a citation issued after five respirable dust samples averaged 2.1 mg/m3. Judge James A. Broderick held that the violation of the respirable-dust standard was established and that Commission precedent created a presumption…
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.