The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced a settlement agreement with Manitowoc Company Inc., and two of its subsidiaries, Grove U.S. L.L.C., and Manitowoc Crane Group Germany GmbH (collectively, Manitowoc) for violations of the Clean Air Act’s mobile source emission standards regulations. The settlement agreement requires Manitowoc to pay a civil penalty of $42.6 million and resolves allegations…
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New law: Good Samaritan remediation of abandoned hardrock mines act
Sen. Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December. Co-led with Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), this legislation will make it easier for “Good Samaritans,” such as state agencies, nonprofits and other groups, to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines. Heinrich applauded…
Read MoreSo you got some bad paper. Now what?
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 MoreJust hear us out – More to the point, give us a fair opportunity to be heard
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 MoreWhy do environmental and mining professionals need to know about a recent securities case?
By Rachel S. Aramburu and Krista K. McIntyre In response to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to combat securities fraud and increase market transparency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the agency that delegated enforcement of these acts,…
Read MoreSCOTUS buries agency deference six feet under
By Heraclio Pimentel and Ramona Monroe There’s a lot of buzz these days about the Chevron doctrine. Indeed, it’s not uncommon to find headlines that read more like obituaries than your typical, dry legal analysis. These discussions permeate beyond legal and political circles, and it seems everyone has something to say about the “death” of the Chevron doctrine. That’s because…
Read MoreRegulatory roulette: The Congressional Review Act comes around again
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 MoreProvisions to ponder when drafting mining service agreements
By Shannon Bleicher Mining service agreements are a necessary part of any mining project. No matter the stage of a project, service agreements are likely involved. Whether a project is in the early stages of exploration, involved in active development, or well into operations, essential goods and services to support the project are procured through service contracts. Relying on a…
Read MoreA recent discrimination case – and some good news for mine operators
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 MoreNo time to put your head in the sand – MSHA and failure-to-abate orders
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.…
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