Legally Speaking

Calendar of Events

38th Annual Conference on Explosives & Blasting Technique (02-12)
30th Anniversary World Trade & Transport Conference (02-15)
2012 SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit (02-19)
McCloskey Coal Conference of the Americas 2012 (03-14)

Legally Speaking

Everything Old is New Again—The Return of Pre-assessment Informal Conferences

Thursday, 26 January 2012 12:28
By Marci Fulton A long time ago, in a regulatory environment far, far away, operators and MSHA personnel would meet shortly after citations/orders were issued to informally discuss the merits of the enforcement action. These conferences took place before a penalty was assessed, did not require Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission approval, and often resulted in a mutually agreeable outcome requiring no further action by the operator. Then everything changed.
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When the Mine Door Closes, Another Door Opens

Friday, 06 January 2012 11:59
By Christa Rock The adage that “bad facts make bad law” is as old as the law itself. But in an extraordinarily rare turn of events, “catastrophic facts” have made law that is very, very good for the mining industry.
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The EPA Overstepped Its Statutory Authority Under the Clean Water Act

Monday, 31 October 2011 11:44
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undertaken a concerted effort over the last several years to expand its authority under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Clean Water Act (CWA), especially the dredge and fill permit provisions under Section 404 (33 U.S.C. § 1344).
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Can MSHA Sustain its Pace?

Monday, 28 November 2011 16:10
By Mark Savit During a couple of recent joint MSHA/industry conferences I just attended, a number of MSHA officials seemed surprised that operators remain troubled by the level of MSHA enforcement they were facing.
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Sounds Like a Plan … Or Does It?

Friday, 30 September 2011 13:16

By Christa Lee Rock

Sometimes it seems like everything has changed in the coal industry since 2006 (at least in a regulatory sense). Passage of the MINER Act in 2006 brought reforms to everything from accident notification to penalty calculations to the implementation of emergency response plans at all underground mines.