United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union Ex Rel. Thunderbird Mining Co. Pension Plan v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

RANDOLPH, Senior Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from the district court’s judgment affirming a decision of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that administers pension termination insurance under Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461, commonly known as ERISA. In this case, participants in the Thunderbird Mining Company Pension Plan sought “shutdown” pension benefits. These early retirement benefits are trig gered by a “permanent shutdown of a…