LESLIE COAL & ENERGY ENGINEERING, INC. v OSM; Docket No. NX 8-6-P (November 21, 1978)

 TYPE:  ALJ Hearing: Decision  

NAME: LESLIE COAL & ENERGY ENGINEERING, INC., Applicant v OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT (OSM), Respondent  

DATE: November 21, 1978  

CASE-NO:

PROCEEDING: Civil Penalty Proceeding, Order of Cessation 78-II-1-2  

COUNSEL: 

Jerry Anderson, Esq., Berry, Oakley & Anderson, 107 Church Street, Lexington, KY, for the applicant; 

John P. Williams, Esq., Office of the Field Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, Knoxville, TN, for the
Respondent.  

OPINIONBY: Administrative Law Judge Torbett  

OPINION: DECISION  

   BACKGROUND  

  In accordance with Section 518 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (the Act), Leslie Coal and
Energy Engineering, Inc., Applicant, applied on August 30, 1978 for a review of a notice of proposed civil penalty
assessment issued by the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation, Respondent.  The proposed assessment was based
on Order of Cessation No 78-II-1-2 dated June 2, 1978.  Contemporaneous with the filing of its application the
Applicant in accordance with the requirements of 43 CFR  4.1152(b)(1) paid the full amount of the proposed civil
penalty ($3,000) to the Assessment Office, Office of Surface Mining to be placed in escrow pending a final
determination of the proposed assessment.   

  A hearing was held before the undersigned in Lexington, Kentucky on November 16, 1978.  At the conclusion of the
hearing both the Applicant and the Respondent waived their rights to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of
law and each of them asked that a final decision be rendered immediately.   

  Thereupon the undersigned rendered a decision wherein the order of cessation and the violations contained therein was
sustained but the proposed civil penalty was reduced from $3,000 to $500.  

   ORDER  

   Order of Cessation No. 78-II-13-1 is hereby ordered vacated.  

David Torbett, 
Administrative Law Judge