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.
No decisions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Violation rulings affirmed, penalties remanded
This case followed two explosions at Jim Walter Resources' No. 5 Mine that killed 13 miners and injured several others. On the issues presented for review, the Commission affirmed dismissal of an evacuation order because the approved plan did not specify that an explosion triggered evacuation. It…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Explosion-related violations mostly vacated and $3,000 assessed
Jim Walter Resources operated the No. 5 underground coal mine when two explosions on September 23, 2001 killed 13 miners and injured others. The Secretary charged eight alleged violations involving roof control, rock dust, preshift examinations, evacuation, and fire drills. Judge David F. Barbour…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Pretrial motions resolved
Jim Walter Resources filed motions to exclude an MSHA investigation report, limit evidence about prior violations, and obtain summary decision on several citations. Judge David F. Barbour denied exclusion of the report, rejected summary decision on the contested issues, and resolved the evidentiary…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Reconsideration and certification denied
Jim Walter Resources operated the No. 5 Mine, where a double explosion occurred on September 23, 2001. In an earlier ruling, the judge held that MSHA could cite the mine under 30 C.F.R. § 75.1101-23(a) for an evacuation emergency involving an explosion, but found that factual issues remained about…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Reconsideration and certification denied
Jim Walter Resources asked Judge David F. Barbour to reconsider an earlier ruling that allowed MSHA to cite an emergency evacuation standard for an explosion-related event. In the alternative, JWR asked him to certify the legal question for immediate Commission review. The judge declined both…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Summary decision denied in mine emergency case
Jim Walter Resources sought summary decision on an order alleging that the company violated the Mine Act and its approved fire-fighting and evacuation plan during events involving roof conditions, methane, and a mine emergency at No. 5 Mine in Alabama. Judge David F. Barbour held that the cited…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Summary decision denied in mine emergency case
Jim Walter Resources sought summary decision on an order alleging that the company violated the Mine Act and its approved fire-fighting and evacuation plan during events involving roof conditions, methane, and a mine emergency at No. 5 Mine in Alabama. Judge David F. Barbour held that the cited…
Secretary of Labor v. Consolidation Coal Company, et al.
Fire evacuation violations resolved with mixed results
The Secretary alleged that Consolidation Coal failed to evacuate miners during a fire at the Blacksville No. 2 Mine and that three supervisors knowingly violated the mine's evacuation program. The Judge found a violation involving the company's evacuation procedures, deleted the…
Consolidation Coal Company
Fire-evacuation S&S ruling remanded
Consolidation Coal operated an underground coal mine where a beltline fire occurred in the 16-M section. The ALJ found that the operator violated the fire-evacuation standard but that the violation was not significant and substantial, and assessed a $4,000 penalty. The Commission held that the ALJ…
Consolidation Coal Company
Fire-evacuation S&S ruling remanded
Consolidation Coal operated an underground coal mine where a beltline fire occurred in the 16-M section. The ALJ found that the operator violated the fire-evacuation standard but that the violation was not significant and substantial, and assessed a $4,000 penalty. The Commission held that the ALJ…
Consolidation Coal Company
Fire-evacuation findings and penalties decided
Consolidation Coal Company and three individual mine officials were charged after a fire in the belt-drive area of the Blacksville No. 2 Mine. Judge David F. Barbour found that the company failed to follow its approved evacuation program, but deleted the significant-and-substantial finding and…
C.W. Mining Company
SCSR-storage citation modified and $500 penalty assessed
C.W. Mining Company was cited at its Bear Canyon No. 1 underground coal mine after a mantrip left the mine without a self-contained self-rescuer for each rider. The judge found that the storage-plan violation was serious and involved high negligence, but that the evidence did not establish the…
Energy Mining Corporation and/or Utah Power & Light Company
Wilberg Mine settlement approved
These consolidated contest and civil penalty proceedings arose from the Wilberg Mine fire disaster in Utah. The ALJ approved a settlement resolving 24 alleged violations in three civil penalty dockets, reducing the outstanding total from $106,749 to a voluntary payment of $95,000. The order…
Consolidation Coal Company
Eight fire-program citations affirmed
Consolidation Coal Company operated the eight underground coal mines named in the decision. MSHA cited each mine after finding that its approved fire-fighting and evacuation programs were outdated and that the operator was not using an approved program to train miners. Judge Roy J. Maurer found…
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.