Extra Funding, Staff Have Reduced Backlog Of Mining Cases by Two-Thirds, Report Says

Efforts to reduce the backlog of administrative appeals filed by mine operators trying to avoid penalties for cited health and safety violations are beginning to work, according to a Nov. 21 statement from Democratic members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The statement cited a report that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and the Labor Department submitted to Congress Nov. 14. According to the Final Report on the Targeted Caseload Backlog Reduction Project, the number of pending health and safety cases had dropped to 17,101 by the end of July 2011, which was a slight ...