ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - JUDICIAL REVIEW - STATUS OF CAPTIVE MINES UNDER THE NATIONAL BITUMINOUS COAL ACT -

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\u27s 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 \u27producer\u27 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\u27s duty to leave the Commission\u27s judgment undisturbed. Gray v. Powell, 314 U.S. 402, 62 S. Ct. 326 (1941) (quotation from p. 413)