Mining Incidents

River Pit Wash Plant: 17 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Knife River · Surface
Controlled by Knife River Corporation
Kalispell, Flathead County, MT  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2402110

River Pit Wash Plant has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
2
Years on record
2000–2005
Latest incident
Sep 2005
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2001
17
citations
6
significant & substantial
$1,917
proposed penalties
$1,917
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
13
inspections on record
145
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: 145 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

River Pit Wash Plant has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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
17 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $100 in penalties contested before the Commission, $100 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2007-08-29.
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.
35.3%
significant & substantial
5.9%
high negligence or reckless
35.3%
reasonably likely or greater
47.1%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 11.8% low, 82.4% moderate, 5.9% 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.
1 citations taken to the federal commission · 6% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 100%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$100 proposed, $100 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 2007-11-13.
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 2008-182M Settlement Lesnick 2008 $100 → $100
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Mc Elroy & Wilken, Inc. 1997 to 2007
  2. Knife River 2007 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2009 0
2008 3
2007 9
2006 15
2005 7
2004 10
2003 4
2002 2
2001 2
2000 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

River Pit Wash Plant sits in Flathead County, Montana, where the Census mining category is 0.7% 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.
Flathead County, Montana · Population 108,445
0.7%
Mining share of county employment
$71,327
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
2009 Q1 0 0 0
2008 Q4 942 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,727 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 2,087 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 1,609 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 1,105 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 2,353 1 0 425.0
2007 Q2 2,122 0 0 0.0
Show 29 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2007 Q1 4,022 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 3,419 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 2,927 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 2,658 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 3,782 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 1,909 1 1 523.8
2005 Q3 3,140 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 1,984 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 515 5 1 9708.7
2004 Q4 2,099 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 2,563 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 2,844 9 4 3164.6
2004 Q1 892 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 1,398 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 3,298 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 897 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 4 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 572 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 681 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 673 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 246 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 576 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 703 1 0 1422.5
2001 Q2 677 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 277 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 617 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 706 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 705 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 225 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2005 · 1 incident

September 12, 2005 MT · Metal/Non-Metal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
Mc Elroy & Wilken, Inc. · Struck by flying object

Dozer operator was prying a rock out of the dozer arm and track roller. When the rock came out it splintered pieces off into his right eye.

2000 · 1 incident

June 22, 2000 MT · Metal/Non-Metal warehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operator HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Mc Elroy & Wilken, Inc. · Over-exertion in lifting objects

EE WAS CHANGING SCREENS ON HIS WASH PLANT WHEN HE STRAINED HIMSELF.