Mine Review Commission Vacates ALJ Penalty Assessment Against Coal Preparation Plant for Relying on Outdated Information

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission vacated an ALJ’s penalty assessment in a case brought by MSHA against a coal preparation plant.  In his assessment, the ALJ significantly reduced MSHA’s initial penalties for four regulatory violations related to mobile equipment defects.

The ALJ based his reductions, in part, on a comparison of the newly assessed penalties to penalties that MSHA previously assessed against the company, finding that the new penalties should be reduced to place them in line with the older penalties.  The Review Commission found that the older penalties were issued under a different regulatory regime and, therefore, could not be used as a basis for assessing or reducing the new penalties.  The Review Commission explained that after the old penalties were assessed, the regulations were amended to allow MSHA to impose a significantly greater range of penalties.  The Review Commission further noted that MSHA’s original penalty assessment, which took into account the size of the company, the history of violations, the degree of negligence, gravity of the violation, and the operator’s good faith in achieving regulatory compliance, was in line with the current regulatory regime.  The Review Commission remanded the penalty assessment to the ALJ for reassessment in conjunction with its opinion.