In Lone Mountain Processing V

In Lone Mountain Processing v. Secretary of Labor, a mining firm failed to respond to a citation from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for regulatory violations within 30 days, so the citations became final. The firm protested the refusal to reconsider the matter after 30 days. The appeals court held that:

A) federal law made the 30-day period mandatory, so the citation was final and could not be appealed
B) failure to respond to the citation within 30 days absent a significant reason is not acceptable, so the citation stands
C) the MSHA was inconsistent about when it allowed matters to be reopened after 30 days, so it could not arbitrarily reject to reconsider this citation
D) the mining company had not exhausted all procedural remedies so the appeal was not ripe for consideration by the appeals court
E) none of the other choices are correct