Mining Incidents
Search Operators Mines Alerts Research Controllers Fatalgrams About
English Español
← Back to search

Coal Valley East Mine: 13 MSHA citations Coal

Townley, Walker County, AL  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 0103462

Coal Valley East Mine has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Coal Valley East Mine.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
2
Years on record
2015–2018
Latest incident
Jul 2018
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2015
13
citations
1
significant & substantial
$1,764
proposed penalties
$1,764
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Iron Eagle Land Rehabilitation, LLC's full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2015
8
inspections on record
257
inspection hours
n/a
citations per 100 inspection hours
ⓘ This rate is recorded citations divided by MSHA inspection hours, per 100 hours. It reflects inspection effort, not mine size or production.
Rate withheld: 257 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Coal Valley East Mine has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 contested dockets.

Penalty disposition
ⓘ Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$2K
proposed penalties
$2K
current assessed
$2K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
12 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2016-10-19.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
Violation severity profile
ⓘ Shares are computed over citations that carry the MSHA gravity and negligence coding; a small share of records are uncoded.
8.3%
significant & substantial
33.3%
high negligence or reckless
8.3%
reasonably likely or greater
16.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 33.3% low, 33.3% moderate, 33.3% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at Coal Valley East Mine shows 100% of 62 respirable coal dust samples met the 1.5 mg/m3 standard.

Health sampling
ⓘ A sample is a point in time compliance measurement, not an individual exposure history. These figures describe MSHA sampling records and do not establish causation or personal dose.

Respirable coal dust
ⓘ Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.

Last sampled: 2017-04-25, 9 years ago
100%
within 1.5 mg/m3
62
samples
1.15
dust max (mg/m3)
0
over MSHA ECV
ⓘ The excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
29 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 33 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR38
  • HIGHWALL DRILL OPERATOR20
  • REFUSE TRUCK DRIVER/BACKFILL TRUCK DRIVE3

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2016-11-02, 9 years ago
13.5
silica avg (%)
7
samples
17.9
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR4
  • HIGHWALL DRILL OPERATOR3
See US coal mines ranked by silica in their dust samples.

Noise
ⓘ The share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.

Last sampled: 2017-04-26, 9 years ago
0%
over PEL
17
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR10
  • REFUSE TRUCK DRIVER/BACKFILL TRUCK DRIVE4
  • HIGHWALL DRILL OPERATOR2
See US mines ranked by noise samples over the legal limit.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
Health sampling trend
ⓘ A sample is a point in time compliance measurement, not an individual exposure history. These figures describe MSHA sampling records and do not establish causation or personal dose.
Respirable coal dust by year
ⓘ Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
Year within 1.5 mg/m3 samples
2017 100% 10
2016 100% 39
2015 100% 12
2013 100% 1
Noise by year
Year over PEL samples
2017 0% 3
2016 0% 14
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.

Coal Valley East Mine recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2017.

Injury rate, 2017
ⓘ This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US coal mining average was 3.79 and the all-US-mining average was 2.48 cases per 100 workers.
In Alabama, coal mining averaged 4.27 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2017 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2016 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
* Fewer than 100,000 employee-hours that year; the rate is less stable.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Cedar Lake Mining, Inc. 2015 to 2021
  2. Best Coal Inc. 2021 to 2024
  3. Iron Eagle Land Rehabilitation, LLC 2024 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
ⓘ Coal production is reported quarterly and lags the current period; the most recent quarters may be incomplete.
Year Employees Coal produced (tons)
2018 0
2017 10 43,404
2016 38 194,172
2015 34 98,477
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Coal Valley East Mine sits in Walker County, Alabama, where the Census mining category is 3.3% of county employment.

Local economic context
ⓘ County figures come from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 5-year pooled estimates, so the 2023 vintage covers 2019 through 2023. The Census category is 'mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction', which is broader than MSHA jurisdiction and includes oil and gas workers no mine employs. These figures describe the surrounding county, not this mine, and are not a factor in any specific incident.
Walker County, Alabama · Population 64,886
3.3%
Mining share of county employment
$54,509
Median household income
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 5-year estimates.
Quarterly safety rates
ⓘ Citations per million reported employee-hours. Rates begin in 2000, when MSHA's quarterly employment data starts; earlier incidents are counted but cannot be rate-adjusted. Quarters under 100,000 reported hours are greyed: too few hours for a stable rate.
Citations per million employee-hours, as reported to MSHA
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2018 Q3 0 1 0
2018 Q2 0 0 0
2018 Q1 0 0 0
2017 Q4 0 0 0
2017 Q3 1,982 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 4,539 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 21,591 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 19,564 1 1 51.1
Show 5 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2016 Q3 29,468 2 0 67.9
2016 Q2 28,517 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 21,744 8 0 367.9
2015 Q4 52,492 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 15,756 1 0 63.5
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2018 · 1 incident

July 18, 2018 AL · Coal assayer, geologist, metallurgist, engineer, engineer management OTHER
Cedar Lake Mining, Inc. · Drowning

Employee was unclogging drain pipe at sediment pond 41E, while removing the pond floating boom from inlet of pipe, employee must have became engulfed in the draining water pulling ee into the drain pipe.

2015 · 1 incident

August 15, 2015 AL · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
Cedar Lake Mining, Inc. · Over-exertion in wielding or throwing objects

Teammate was assembling a 18.00R33 tire on front wheel of 769 cat rock truck. Teammate was using the boom and a hammer to install the bead seat band on the wheel and was swinging the hammer, when the handle broke off of the head of the hammer and struck the teammates finger creating a fracture to left index finger. He continued to work and finished the job.