Mining Incidents

POWNAL PIT: 15 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

SEAN O'DONOVAN · Surface
Controlled by Sean O'Donovan
Pownal, Bennington County, VT  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 4300391

POWNAL PIT has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $151 outstanding across 0 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2016
15
citations
0
significant & substantial
$2,081
proposed penalties
$1,930
paid to date
93% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $151 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
16
inspections on record
117
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: 117 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

POWNAL PIT has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $151 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
$151
outstanding
15 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-05-12.
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.
0.0%
significant & substantial
6.7%
high negligence or reckless
0.0%
reasonably likely or greater
20.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 53.3% low, 40.0% moderate, 6.7% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. R L Barlow Inc 1985 to 2016
  2. Maxon Trucking Limited 2016 to 2022
  3. Sean O'Donovan 2022 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 1
2024 1
2023 1
2022 1
2021 1
2020 1
2019 1
2018 1
2017 2
2016 1
2003 0
2002 0
2001 2
2000 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

POWNAL PIT sits in Bennington County, Vermont, where the Census mining category is 0.0% 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.
Bennington County, Vermont · Population 37,312
0.0%
Mining share of county employment
$71,494
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 27 1 0 37037.0
2026 Q1 0 0 0
2025 Q4 34 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 235 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 94 5 0 53191.5
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 0 0 0
2024 Q3 10 1 0 100000.0
Show 43 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 124 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 52 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 102 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 153 1 0 6535.9
2023 Q2 164 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 0 0 0
2022 Q4 85 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 183 4 0 21857.9
2022 Q2 271 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 12 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 256 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 474 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 271 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 24 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 290 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 314 1 0 3184.7
2020 Q2 80 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 10 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 345 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 496 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 191 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 8 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 221 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 467 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 250 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 26 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 116 1 0 8620.7
2017 Q3 30 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 30 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 6 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 56 1 0 17857.1
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 0 0 0
2002 Q2 200 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q4 120 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 570 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 780 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 106 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 897 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 897 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 626 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 493 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.