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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Big Ridge, Incorporated
Two safeguard citations changed to non-S&S
MSHA cited Big Ridge for violating mine-specific safeguards after finding an obstructed belt-conveyor travelway and muddy, irregular conditions on a mine travel road. Big Ridge sought summary decision removing the S&S designations, while the Secretary sought to amend the citations from the…
AMAX Coal Company
Amended decision issued
This amended release corrected a page in an earlier decision involving AMAX Coal Company's LAKE 96-17 proceeding. The release reconfirmed an approved settlement reducing one order's penalty from $2,500 to $2,000 and reproduced the decision's discussion of a citation alleging wet and muddy…
AMAX Coal Company
Wet haulageway violation affirmed
MSHA cited AMAX Coal Company after inspectors found standing water and mud in a mine haulageway, with water up to 24 inches deep and a tractor stuck in the mud. The judge found that the roadway conditions affected equipment control and that the violation was significant and substantial because…
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 When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.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.