Mining Incidents

Crossfire Piedra Wash Plant: 18 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Ezra Eldon Lee
Ignacio, La Plata County, CO  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 0505045

Crossfire Piedra Wash Plant has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Crossfire Piedra Wash Plant.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2016
18
citations
1
significant & substantial
$2,241
proposed penalties
$2,241
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2016
17
inspections on record
196
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: 196 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Crossfire Piedra Wash Plant has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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
18 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $727 in penalties contested before the Commission, $727 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-10-04.
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.
5.6%
significant & substantial
22.2%
high negligence or reckless
5.6%
reasonably likely or greater
22.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 5.6% low, 72.2% moderate, 22.2% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
When citations were contested
Contesting a citation before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is a lawful right. These figures state the public outcomes of that process, from MSHA's Contested Violations file.
5 citations taken to the federal commission · 28% of citations on record
  • Settled 2 · 40%
  • Stood as issued 3 · 60%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$727 proposed, $727 after decisions · industry: 39%
Source: MSHA Contested Violations file (public record), updated weekly. A dismissed or defaulted contest leaves the citation standing as issued; a vacated or withdrawn citation is removed from the violation record. Latest contest filed 2024-12-04.
Contested penalties
A reduction or dismissal at the Commission is a lawful outcome of contesting a proposed penalty. Figures are the proposed amount and the amount upheld in the docket's decision.
Largest penalties this mine contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEST 2025-0107 Default 2025 $441 → $441
WEST 2023-0368 Settlement 2024 $286 → $286
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
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.

Metal and nonmetal contaminants (personal samples)
Many samples are screening measurements of substances with no applicable exposure limit; they are counted as samples but excluded from every over-limit figure. Over-limit shares use only limit-tested samples.

Last sampled: 2024-10-04
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
8
samples
2
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg6
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz2
Show the individual readings (8)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2024-10-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-04-24 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.19 0.51 0.37 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-04-24 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.42 0.52 0.81 Front-end Loader Operator
2021-02-23 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2019-04-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2018-05-17 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2016-05-24 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2016-05-24 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Laborer, Bullgang
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly. Metal/nonmetal contaminant figures come from MSHA's Personal Health Samples and Area Samples files (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Crossfire Aggregate Services, LLC 2015 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 3
2023 5
2022 2
2021 2
2020 3
2019 3
2018 2
2017 3
2016 3
2015 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Crossfire Piedra Wash Plant sits in La Plata County, Colorado, where the Census mining category is 1.1% 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.
La Plata County, Colorado · Population 56,088
1.1%
Mining share of county employment
$85,296
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
2026 Q2 245 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 10 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 312 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 440 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 250 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 419 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 928 3 0 3232.8
2024 Q3 2,510 0 0 0.0
Show 36 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,305 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 350 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 767 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 664 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 2,467 2 0 810.7
2023 Q1 1,220 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 776 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 1,468 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 1,318 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 1,178 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 1,275 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 1,195 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 1,332 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 1,064 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 1,144 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 2,054 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 1,953 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 1,994 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 756 1 0 1322.8
2019 Q2 1,475 1 0 678.0
2019 Q1 1,113 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 1,319 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 1,581 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 895 6 0 6703.9
2018 Q1 609 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 560 3 1 5357.1
2017 Q3 1,328 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 3,021 1 0 331.0
2017 Q1 153 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 901 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 1,072 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 1,256 1 0 796.2
2016 Q1 133 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 698 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 1,445 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 1,178 0 0 0.0

No reportable incidents on file.

MSHA has no recorded reportable accidents for this mine in the current dataset. New reports appear here within a week of being filed.