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Abstract

Petitioner railroad company held a renewable short-term lease of a coal mine, and engaged an independent contractor to extract the coal for its exclusive use. The lease and the agreement with the contractor were coextensive in time, the railroad having an option to terminate the agreement whenever the contractor failed to meet the prevailing market price. Petitioner applied for an exemption of the coal thus obtained from the provisions of the National Bituminous Coal Act, relying upon the section which excludes coal consumed by the "producer" ("captive coal") from the Coal Code regulations. Held, the order of the commission denying the exemption is affirmed on the ground that the Court will not reverse the commission's interpretation of the term "producer." The Court declared: "Unless we can say that a set of circumstances deemed by the Commission to bring them within the concept 'producer' is so unrelated to the task entrusted by the Congress to the Commission as in effect to deny a sensible exercise of judgment, it is the Court's duty to leave the Commission's judgment undisturbed." Gray v. Powell, 314 U.S. 402, 62 S. Ct. 326 (1941) (quotation from p. 413).

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