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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Banner Blue Coal Company
Mixed citation rulings and settlements total $7,168
Banner Blue Coal litigated four underground coal citations and settled nine others. Judge George A. Koutras upheld two electrical-maintenance citations involving worn cathead latches, but removed the S&S designations and assessed $500 for each. He vacated a permissibility citation alleging a…
Consolidation Coal Company
Settlement motion denied over proposed S&S reductions
Consolidation Coal Company faced citations at its Dilworth Mine for an obstructed travelway and missing insulating mats near electrical control boxes. The parties proposed reducing several significant-and-substantial designations, but Judge William Fauver found that the proposal did not show the…
Mettiki Coal Company
Safeguard, citation, and order vacated
Mettiki Coal Company was cited after an inspector found water and mud in approaches to mine seals and issued a safeguard requiring clear, safe travelways. The ALJ found that the safeguard addressed a hazard common to underground mines and had bypassed the formal rulemaking process used for…
Southern Ohio Coal Company
Mixed contest and penalty dispositions
Southern Ohio Coal Company challenged multiple MSHA citations and orders involving muddy haulage roads, unsupported roof, exposed electrical equipment, an unguarded fluid coupler, and an unsafe slope near a highwall. Judge William Fauver approved settlements in several matters, affirmed several…
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.