FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION
601 NEW JERSEY AVENUE, NW
SUITE 9500
WASHINGTON, DC 20001
November 14, 2008
SECRETARY OF LABOR, MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (MSHA) v. KRYSTAL GRAVEL |
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Docket No. SE 2008-843-M A.C. No. 22-00585-1145711 |
BEFORE: Duffy, Chairman; Jordan, Young, and Cohen, Commissioners
ORDER
BY THE COMMISSION:
This matter arises under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. § 801 et seq. (2000) (“Mine Act”). On July 7, 2008, the Commission received from Krystal Gravel (“Krystal”) a letter seeking to reopen an assessment that may have become a final order of the Commission pursuant to section 105(a) of the Mine Act, 30 U.S.C. § 815(a).
Under section 105(a) of the Mine Act, an operator who wishes to contest a proposed penalty must notify the Secretary of Labor no later than 30 days after receiving the proposed penalty assessment. If the operator fails to notify the Secretary, the proposed penalty assessment is deemed a final order of the Commission. 30 U.S.C. § 815(a).
On April 3, 2008, the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration
(“MSHA”) issued to Krystal a proposed assessment as a result of 18 citations that were issued in
February 2008. On April 22, Krystal mailed a letter to MSHA’s Civil Penalty Compliance Office
in which Krystal stated that it did not contest the violations but that it needed “help on the
assessment amounts” and that penalties were “calculated wrong and are too high.”
In response,
the Secretary states that she does not oppose reopening the proposed assessment but that
Krystal’s letter was not adequate to contest a proposed assessment.
Having reviewed Krystal’s request and the Secretary’s response, we conclude that the
proposed assessment at issue has not become a final order of the Commission because Krystal
effectively timely contested it. We deny Krystal’s motion as moot and remand this matter to the
Chief Administrative Law Judge for further proceedings as appropriate, pursuant to the Mine Act
and the Commission’s Procedural Rules, 29 C.F.R. Part 2700.
See Lehigh Cement Co., 28
FMSHRC 440, 441 (July 2006).
____________________________________
Michael F. Duffy, Chairman
____________________________________
Mary Lu Jordan, Commissioner
____________________________________
Michael G. Young, Commissioner
____________________________________
Robert F. Cohen, Jr., Commissioner
Distribution:
John C. Sojourner, Jr.
Krystal Gravel, Inc.
113 BoBo Drive
Crystal Springs, MS 39059
W. Christian Schumann, Esq.
Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Department of Labor
1100 Wilson Blvd., Room 2220
Arlington, VA 22209-2296
Myra James, Chief
Office of Civil Penalty Compliance
MSHA
U.S. Department of Labor
1100 Wilson Blvd., 25th Floor
Arlington, VA 22209-3939
Chief Administrative Law Judge Robert J. Lesnick
Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission
601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 9500
Washington, D.C. 20001-2021