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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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…
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…
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…
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.