Mining Incidents

Liberty Ranch: 1 recorded fatality Metal/Non-Metal

Hardin, Liberty County, TX  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4105268

Liberty Ranch has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $666 outstanding across 5 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
1
Total incidents
1
Years on record
2021
Latest incident
Dec 2021
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2018
19
citations
3
significant & substantial
$18,310
proposed penalties
$6,751
paid to date
37% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $11,559 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2017
21
inspections on record
439
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: 439 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Liberty Ranch has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $666 outstanding across 5 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.
$18K
proposed penalties
$7K
current assessed
$7K
paid to date
$666
outstanding
18 assessments are final orders; 5 contested dockets.
Of $17K in penalties contested before the Commission, $6K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-04-29.
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.
16.7%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
16.7%
reasonably likely or greater
22.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 22.2% low, 77.8% moderate, 0.0% 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.
8 citations taken to the federal commission · 42% of citations on record
  • Settled 7 · 88%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 13%
67%
S&S designation survived the contest
Counts a Significant & Substantial citation as surviving when a settlement or judge's decision kept the designation, or the contest was dismissed or defaulted so the citation stands as issued. Vacated and withdrawn citations, and settlements that removed the designation, count against.
of 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
66%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$17K proposed, $6K 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 2023-11-20.
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
CENT 2024-0032 Settlement Bulluck 2025 $16K → $5K
CENT 2019-0253 Settlement Bulluck 2019 $405 → $202
CENT 2018-0218 Settlement Lesnick 2018 $354 → $236
CENT 2020-0005 Settlement 2019 $121 → $121
CENT 2019-0021 Settlement Lesnick 2019 $118 → $118
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: 2024-06-19
5
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg5
Show the individual readings (5)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2024-06-19 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2022-11-16 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2021-10-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2021-08-03 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2021-08-03 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
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.

Liberty Ranch recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2024.

Injury rate, 2024
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
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.77 and the all-US-mining average was 2.08 cases per 100 workers.
In Texas, metal and nonmetal mining averaged 1.49 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
2024 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2023 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2022 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2021 * 5.25 5.25 5.245
2020 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2019 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2018 * 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. Southern Crushed Concrete LLC 2017 to 2021
  2. Martin Marietta Materials Southwest, LLC 2021 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2025 3
2024 8
2023 10
2022 12
2021 14
2020 19
2019 26
2018 22
2017 19
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Liberty Ranch sits in Liberty County, Texas, where the Census mining category is 2.0% 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.
Liberty County, Texas · Population 97,993
2.0%
Mining share of county employment
$64,773
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 1,457 1 0 686.3
2026 Q1 1,713 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 1,610 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,324 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,162 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 1,355 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 2,954 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 5,372 0 0 0.0
Show 29 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 6,182 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 6,158 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 6,259 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 6,317 1 0 158.3
2023 Q2 6,488 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 7,687 2 2 260.2
2022 Q4 8,596 1 0 116.3
2022 Q3 9,600 1 0 104.2
2022 Q2 9,099 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 8,442 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 9,762 3 0 307.3
2021 Q3 8,567 3 1 350.2
2021 Q2 10,169 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 9,632 1 0 103.8
2020 Q4 5,408 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 8,911 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 8,401 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 9,415 1 0 106.2
2019 Q4 9,175 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 11,228 1 0 89.1
2019 Q2 12,039 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 11,362 1 0 88.0
2018 Q4 10,758 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 9,050 1 0 110.5
2018 Q2 10,689 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 7,652 2 0 261.4
2017 Q4 7,291 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 8,297 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 155 0 0 0.0

Fatalities at this mine

1 recorded
December 13, 2021 TX · Metal/Non-Metal haul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driver Fatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Martin Marietta Materials Southwest, LLC · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object

Customer truck driver pulled into tarping area behind another truck and failed to set parking brake before exiting the truck. The driver did not use wheel chocks as required. The customer truck driver was fatally injured when customer's truck moved forward and pinned customer truck driver against the other drivers truck.