This month I’d like to tell you about a problem that really shouldn’t be a problem. I’m talking about the current tempest-in-a-teapot that is approval of settlement motions in Mine Act enforcement cases. I’ll bet you already know this, but the vast majority of penalty cases that are filed with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (which I’m…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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,…
Read More
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 More