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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Secretary of Labor v. Little Buck Coal Company #2
Five mine-safety violations upheld with $8,308 penalty
Little Buck Coal Company #2 operated a small underground anthracite mine where it developed entries beyond and in directions not authorized by its approved roof-control and ventilation plans. MSHA cited the company for the plan departures, failure to examine and ventilate a barricaded dead-air…
San Juan Coal Company
Air-quality citation vacated
San Juan Coal contested a citation alleging that oxygen levels in an area beside the last longwall shield were below the required minimum. The judge found that the area had been effectively dangered off on the inspection date and was not an area where persons worked or traveled under the cited…
San Juan Coal Company
Air-quality citation vacated
San Juan Coal contested a citation alleging that oxygen levels in an area beside the last longwall shield were below the required minimum. The judge found that the area had been effectively dangered off on the inspection date and was not an area where persons worked or traveled under the cited…
San Juan Coal Company
Air-quality citation vacated
San Juan Coal contested a citation alleging that oxygen levels in an area beside the last longwall shield were below the required minimum. The judge found that the area had been effectively dangered off on the inspection date and was not an area where persons worked or traveled under the cited…
Drummond Company, Inc.
Methane citation dismissed
Drummond Company contested a citation issued after methane readings above 5 percent were found in an underground longwall entry at the Shoal Creek Mine. The company lowered a ventilation curtain and made other ventilation changes after learning of the readings, and later methane readings were below…
Lodestar Energy Incorporated
Five citations affirmed and one vacated
Lodestar Energy Incorporated faced consolidated civil penalty proceedings involving its coal mines. Five citations alleged that air near mine seals contained less than the required 19.5% oxygen, and one citation alleged that a tail roller guard was not secured. Judge Gary Melick affirmed the five…
Lodestar Energy Incorporated
Summary-decision motions denied and hearing rescheduled
Lodestar Energy asked the judge to vacate three citations alleging that oxygen levels in areas where people worked or traveled fell below the required minimum. The Secretary asked for summary decision affirming the citations and civil penalties. Judge Gary Melick denied both motions because the…
Hubb Corporation
Multiple citations resolved, penalty assessed
MSHA alleged that Hubb Corporation violated mine-safety standards involving shuttle-car controls, ventilation, roof support, air movement, combustible accumulations, cable protection, and fire suppression at Hubb No. 5 Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger dismissed several citations, found that two section…
Secretary of Labor v. Kellys Creek Resources, Inc.
Borehole violation classified as S&S and unwarrantable
Kellys Creek Resources operated a coal mine in Tennessee. The company cut through into a sealed mine area while mining within 200 feet of an area that had not been accurately surveyed, without drilling the required boreholes. The cut-through released air with dangerously low oxygen, and the…
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.