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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Emerald Coal Resources, LP
Coal-dust order upheld and $127,531 assessed
MSHA brought 28 alleged violations against Emerald Coal Resources at its Emerald Mine No. 1, and the parties resolved all but one through settlements or vacatur. Judge David F. Barbour upheld the remaining order under 30 C.F.R. § 75.400 after finding extensive dry coal dust along a shuttle-car…
Donner Coal Company, Inc.
Citations modified, one vacated, and $793 penalty assessed
Donner Coal Company operated the Black Rose No. 1 Mine. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that several cited conditions were significant and substantial, while other findings were not supported by the circumstances. He modified two citations to remove their significant-and-substantial characterization…
Texas Utilities Generating Company
Electrical orders dismissed and modified
Texas Utilities Generating Company faced two orders involving electrical work at the Sandow Mine substation. Judge Avram Weisberger found no violation of the transformer-enclosure rule because the employees had authorized entry and were supervised, so he dismissed Order No. 2838513. He found a…
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 When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.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.