Coal Operators Face Broader Reporting Requirements Under Pennsylvania Law According To State’s High Court
Several coal mining operators challenged the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (“DEP”) interpretation of the state’s Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act (the “State Act”) with respect to “accident” reporting and with respect to requiring fire extinguishers on certain mining vehicles. Specifically, the State Act requires mine operators to notify the DEP of “accidents” within 15 minutes of their discovery and defines “accident” as “an unanticipated event, including any of the following,” and lists 14 examples. The DEP in these cases contended that the operators violated this reporting requirement by failing to report events of unplanned changes in ventilation flow and a power failure resulting in an inoperable ventilation system, even though these events were not listed among the State Act’s 14 examples. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania concluded that the DEP’s interpretation was within its authority as the list of examples was clearly not meant to be exhaustive given the “including any of the following language,” and that the events in question in this case were sufficiently similar to the listed examples for the DEP to interpret them as accidents needing to be reported.
The court did, however, find that the DEP exceeded its authority when issuing orders with respect to requiring fire extinguishers on scoops, which are battery-powered, four-wheeled vehicles equipped with buckets used to transport tools, materials, and coal throughout mines. They have only one seat for the scoop driver and do not transport other miners. Under Pennsylvania’s State Act, “Each track or off-track locomotive, self-propelled mantrip car or personnel carrier shall be equipped with one portable fire extinguisher.” The court concluded that to interpret the definition of locomotive to include a scoop would be to stretch the plain meaning of the term “beyond the breaking point,” and thus the DEP’s desire to extend this statutory requirement to scoops was clearly erroneous.
