FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION
601 NEW JERSEY AVENUE, NW
SUITE 9500
WASHINGTON, DC 20001
July 10, 2008
SECRETARY OF LABOR, MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (MSHA) v. LITTLE EAGLE COAL CO. |
: : : : : : : |
Docket No. WEVA 2008-1085 A.C. No. 46-08676-141980 |
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 May 8, 2008, the Commission received from Little Eagle Coal Co. (“Little Eagle”) a motion by counsel seeking to reopen a penalty 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 February 27, 2008, the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”) issued to Little Eagle Proposed Assessment No. 000141980, which proposed civil penalties for several citations. Little Eagle states that it mailed its contest of the proposed penalties for some of the citations on April 4, 2008, as the result of a delay in forwarding the assessment form. In response, the Secretary states that after reviewing the records in this case, she determined that the contest of the proposed assessment was timely, and docketed by the Commission as WEVA 2008-957.
Having reviewed Little Eagle’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 Little Eagle timely contested it. We deny Little Eagle’s motion as moot. Appropriate proceedings on Proposed Assessment No. 000141980 shall proceed in Docket No. WEVA 2008-957 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:
R. Henry Moore, Esq.
Jackson Kelly, PLLC
Three Gateway Center, Suite 1340
401 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
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 the 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 and Health Review Commission
610 New Jersey Avenue, N. W., Suite 9500
Washington, D.C. 20001