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. Drummond Company, Inc.
Open mandoor violation affirmed at $2,678
Drummond propped open a ventilation mandoor for at least 90 minutes while a loader pushed a large drainage pipe through it at the gassy Shoal Creek Mine. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy found that this use defeated the door's purpose of separating intake and return air and disrupted the longwall…
Consolidation Coal Company
Open personnel doors caused a significant and substantial methane hazard
MSHA found two personnel doors open at Consolidation Coal's Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine while methane accumulated in the section, including a cavity with methane above the explosive range. Judge Avram Weisberger affirmed an imminent-danger withdrawal order and found that the open doors…
Consolidation Coal Company
Withdrawal order affirmed with $6,000 penalty
MSHA found two personnel doors open at Consolidation Coal's Blacksville No. 2 underground coal mine while methane accumulated in the section, including a cavity with methane above the explosive range. Judge Avram Weisberger found a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.333(c)(3), affirmed the imminent-danger…
Basin Resources, Inc.
Mixed citation results with $25,601 penalty
Basin Resources contested penalties for safety violations at the Golden Eagle Mine, including ventilation, guarding, escapeway, roof-control, and coal-dust conditions. Judge Richard W. Manning vacated one citation, affirmed most of the remaining findings, modified one unwarrantable-failure order to…
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.