This month, I want to go back to basics and talk about the process and considerations that might drive a mine operator’s decision to challenge an MSHA citation or order. As you know, the Mine Act requires an inspector to issue a citation or order if he believes an operator “has violated this Act, or any mandatory health or safety…
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By Willa B. Perlmutter So, last week I had the pleasure of attending a seminar put on by the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. It was called a “safety seminar,” but that’s kind of a misnomer. With one interesting exception, a mine operator who talked about how they’d improved mobile equipment…
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By Willa B. Perlmutter So, this column is going to be a little different from my usual observations about what MSHA is doing these days. Given the super-charged political climate and the fact that my Washington D.C. roots go very deep, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s going to happen in November – and what it could mean for…
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By Willa B. Perlmutter Well, guys, I hate to say I told you so, but…well, I told you so. A few months back, I wrote about a whistleblower retaliation case that had just come out of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, and shared with you that I thought the Commission’s reasoning gave cause for alarm. (I know,…
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Lately I’ve been giving some thought to what MSHA considers “enhanced enforcement,” which really refers to enforcement actions that MSHA takes against a mine operator beyond the § 104(a) citations that are the most frequent result of a mine inspection. (We call them “§ 104(a) citations” because the authority for issuing them comes from § 104(a) of the Mine Act.…
Read MoreBy Joe C. Matteo and Willa B. Perlmutter Have you ever wondered if polluted water that leaks from a settling pond into groundwater and eventually reaches a river is a “discrete” source of pollution? Or why it matters? You can likely envision a scenario where a mining operation has settling ponds that leak into groundwater before eventually entering a waterway.…
Read MoreBy Willa B. Perlmutter One of my very favorite clients recently sustained a self-inflicted and completely avoidable (and expensive) wound. Since I can’t go back and prevent it from happening, I hope that maybe I can keep the rest of you from falling into the same trap. Let’s talk about what happened. One morning, I received an email from my…
Read MoreBy Willa B. Perlmutter Here’s a fun fact. Going back as early as 1998, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has promised the mining industry it would issue a rule that addresses workplace exposures to respirable crystalline silica at mine sites around the country. (By “rule,” I really mean “regulation.” In other words, a binding requirement issued under…
Read MoreBy Willa B. Perlmutter In my last column, I talked about a coming shift in the analysis the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission will use when it considers retaliation cases brought by the Secretary of Labor or by miners under § 105(c) of the Mine Act. For those of you that missed that column, here’s the deal: until…
Read MoreBy Willa B. Perlmutter A couple of weeks ago, I attended a conference on occupational safety and health law sponsored by the American Bar Association for lawyers from the government, labor and private employers. (Admit it. The idea of hanging out with a bunch of lawyers for five days in a hotel ballroom thrills you, doesn’t it?) The first day…
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