Cite as: 534 U. S. 235 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
and enforce standards concerning occupational safety and health on vessels in navigable waters.3
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) rejected both jurisdictional challenges. Finding that respondent's "employees were not performing navigational-related activities" and that Rig 52 "was stationary and within the territorial boundaries of the State of Louisiana," he concluded that Rig 52 was a "workplace" within the meaning of the Act. Id., at *3. The ALJ then held that the Coast Guard had not pre-empted OSHA's jurisdiction under § 4(b)(1), explaining that respondent had identified no basis for an "industry-wide exemption from OSHA regulations" for uninspected vessels, and had failed to identify any Coast Guard regulation "specifically regulat[ing]" the subject matter of the citations. Id., at *4. In the ALJ's view, another federal agency cannot pre-empt OSHA's jurisdiction under § 4(b)(1) unless that agency exercises its statutory authority to regulate a particular working condition: Mere possession of the power to regulate is not enough.4 The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission declined review of the ALJ's decision and issued a final order assessing a penalty against respondent of $4,410 per citation. Id., at *1.
3 Section 4(b)(1) of the Act, as codified in 29 U. S. C. § 653(b)(1), provides: "Nothing in this chapter shall apply to working conditions of employees with respect to which other Federal agencies, and State agencies acting under [§ 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954], exercise statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards or regulations affecting occupational safety and health."
4 According to the ALJ: "The term 'exercise,' as used in § 4(b)(1), requires an actual assertion of regulatory authority as opposed to a mere possession of authority. OSHA jurisdiction will be preempted only as to those working conditions actually covered by the agency regulations. . . . The OSHA citation alleges that [respondent] failed to evacuate employees and failed to have an emergency response plan. [Respondent] does not argue or identify any similar requirement enforced by the U. S. Coast Guard." No. 97-1973, 1998 WL 917067, *3-4 (OSHRC, Dec. 28, 1998).
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