Mining Incidents

WTRR Pieper Clay Pit: 67 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Randall D Smith
Blackwell, Nolan County, TX  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 4101225

WTRR Pieper Clay Pit has $14K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 3 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 2005
67
citations
8
significant & substantial
$13,840
proposed penalties
$8,540
paid to date
62% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $5,300 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
45
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.

WTRR Pieper Clay Pit has $14K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 3 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.
$14K
proposed penalties
$10K
current assessed
$9K
paid to date
$1K
outstanding
63 assessments are final orders; 3 contested dockets.
Of $7K in penalties contested before the Commission, $3K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-03-27.
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.
12.1%
significant & substantial
15.2%
high negligence or reckless
12.1%
reasonably likely or greater
21.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 9.1% low, 75.8% moderate, 15.2% 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.
8 citations taken to the federal commission · 12% of citations on record
  • Settled 2 · 25%
  • Stood as issued 6 · 75%
100%
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 4 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
58%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$7K proposed, $3K 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 2013-03-15.
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 2011-1157M Settlement McCarthy 2012 $6K → $2K
CENT 2011-439M Dismissal Lesnick 2011 $763 → $763
CENT 2013-338M Settlement Lesnick 2013 $362 → $362
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: 2009-07-15, 17 years ago
1
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2009-07-15 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator

Area samples (mill and shop air)

Last sampled: 2009-07-15, 17 years ago
1
samples
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Area sampled
2009-07-15 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 2.17 SF ACTIVE MINING
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. Lone Star Industries Inc 1950 to 1989
  2. Burnett Business 1989 to 1993
  3. Performance Unlimited Inc 1993 to 2002
  4. Carney Enterprises 2002 to 2007
  5. Carney Enterprises LLC 2007 to 2010
  6. West Texas Rock Resources LLC 2010 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 2
2023 2
2022 2
2021 1
2020 1
2019 1
2018 0
2017 1
2016 1
2015 1
2014 1
2013 2
2012 2
2011 2
2010 1
2009 1
2008 5
2007 4
2006 7
2005 3
2004 2
2003 2
2002 3
2001 5
2000 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

WTRR Pieper Clay Pit sits in Nolan County, Texas, where the Census mining category is 2.7% 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.
Nolan County, Texas · Population 14,565
2.7%
Mining share of county employment
$50,160
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 888 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 1,367 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 1,363 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,263 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,754 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 1,633 2 0 1224.7
2024 Q4 1,767 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 1,614 0 0 0.0
Show 91 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,650 12 0 7272.7
2024 Q1 1,318 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 1,807 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,508 1 0 663.1
2023 Q2 1,664 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 1,598 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 1,617 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 1,070 2 0 1869.2
2022 Q2 852 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 291 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 665 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 560 3 0 5357.1
2021 Q2 0 0 0
2021 Q1 549 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 773 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 0 0 0
2020 Q2 0 0 0
2020 Q1 353 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 403 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 0 1 0
2019 Q2 364 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 0 0 0
2018 Q4 0 0 0
2018 Q3 0 3 0
2018 Q2 0 0 0
2018 Q1 537 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 125 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 725 1 0 1379.3
2017 Q2 309 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 107 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 220 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 315 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 718 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 702 2 1 2849.0
2015 Q4 570 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 699 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 562 1 0 1779.4
2015 Q1 471 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 176 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 233 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 693 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 496 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 699 4 1 5722.5
2013 Q3 719 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 546 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 406 1 0 2463.1
2012 Q4 355 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 287 3 0 10453.0
2012 Q2 387 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 407 2 1 4914.0
2011 Q4 438 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 340 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 197 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 225 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 1 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 0 0 0
2009 Q3 0 0 0
2009 Q2 100 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 100 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 3,028 2 0 660.5
2008 Q3 2,927 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 1,911 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 1,925 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 1,930 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 1,465 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 1,487 3 0 2017.5
2007 Q1 2,602 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 2,906 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 2,958 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 3,548 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 4,341 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 6,723 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 899 4 0 4449.4
2005 Q2 0 0 0
2005 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 0 0 0
2004 Q2 456 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 354 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 0 0 0
2003 Q3 450 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 100 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 164 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 800 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 312 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 357 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 315 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 484 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 227 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 227 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 0 0 0
2000 Q1 819 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.