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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Western Fuels-Utah, Inc.
Belt-fire citations mixed, $4,000 penalty assessed
Western Fuels-Utah operated the underground Deserado Mine in Colorado, where a conveyor-belt fire occurred in the East Mains No. 3 section. Judge August F. Cetti found that the Secretary did not prove violations involving the conveyor switches or the sensing devices, and he vacated those citations…
Garden Creek Pocahontas Company
Settlement approved for conveyor citation
This civil penalty proceeding involved one alleged violation of a mandatory safety standard at Garden Creek Pocahontas Company's VP-6 Mine. The citation concerned a belt conveyor that periodically started unexpectedly while idled in sequence mode. The parties settled the proposed $189 penalty for…
Andalex Resources, Inc.
Fire and escapeway citations split
Andalex Resources contested citations involving an inoperative fire suppression system and leaking drive-through doors that compromised separate underground escapeways. Judge John J. Morris found the fire suppression violation significant and substantial, and he affirmed the two escapeway…
U.S. Steel Mining Co., Inc.
One sequence-switch citation vacated, one affirmed
U.S. Steel Mining was cited after inspectors found that two underground conveyor-belt sequence switches did not stop inby belts when the outby belts stopped. Judge James A. Broderick found that the test conclusively showed one switch was inoperable, while the evidence about the other switch was…
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.