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.
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company
Dust citations affirmed and other matters resolved
Harlan Cumberland Coal Company faced five consolidated civil penalty proceedings involving mandatory Mine Act standards at its C-2 and D-1 mines. The Judge affirmed two citations for failing to provide valid respirable dust samples after finding that samples had to be received by the MSHA…
Magic Coal Company
Settlement approved with $2,389 in penalties
Magic Coal agreed to settle eight alleged safety violations and one training order across three dockets. The violations involved electrical equipment, fire drills, high-voltage cable guarding, a smoking-program record, trailing-cable protection, ventilation-plan air movement, and miner refresher…
Consolidation Coal Company
Firehose and cable violations resolved with mixed findings
Consolidation Coal was cited at its Blacksville No. 2 Mine for inadequate firehose reach and exposed high-voltage cable, and it agreed to pay a $20 settlement for a damaged trailing-cable citation. Judge Jerold Feldman found the firehose violation significant and substantial but modified the order…
Consolidation Coal Company
Five citations settled for $538
Consolidation Coal faced five citations involving ventilation stoppings, an unmarked circuit breaker, a high-voltage cable on the mine floor, and excessive spacing between fire hose outlets. The parties agreed to remove the significant-and-substantial designations and settle the five citations for…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement approved and related contests dismissed
Consolidation Coal Company faced five alleged violations at the Robinson Run No. 95 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras approved settlements for two citations, reducing the proposed penalty from $310 each to $186 each after the citations were modified from significant and substantial to non-significant…
LJ'S Coal Corporation
Mixed rulings impose $1,644 in penalties
An ALJ reviewed several safety citations and orders issued at LJ's Coal Corporation's No. 1 Mine. The judge dismissed one mine-rescue citation because the records did not prove that the apparatus itself had gone untested for 30 days. He affirmed violations involving high-voltage cables, an exposed…
Medicine Bow Coal Company
Expedited hearing denied
Medicine Bow Coal sought an expedited hearing in two contest proceedings involving a citation under 30 C.F.R. § 75.807 and an order or citation under 30 C.F.R. § 75.517. Judge John J. Morris found that the operator had not shown the criteria required for expedited relief. He denied the motion to…
Pyro Mining Company
Multiple citations modified and penalties assessed
Pyro Mining Company faced three consolidated civil-penalty dockets involving methane, electrical equipment, coal accumulations, conveyor conditions, and other mine-safety requirements at its No. 9 Slope Mine. Judge Richard C. Steffey modified several citation findings, affirmed some violations…
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.