Mining Incidents
Search Operators Mines Alerts Research Controllers Fatalgrams About
English Español
← All operators

Kepler Processing Company LLC: 484 MSHA citations operator

Controlled by Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc
MSHA operator ID: P23202

Watch this operator

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at any Kepler Processing Company LLC mine.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
81
Mines on record
1
Years on record
1995–2024
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2001
484
citations
96
significant & substantial
$119,860
proposed penalties
$103,723
paid to date
87% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $16,137 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
186
inspections on record
6,185
inspection hours
7.8
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.
484 citations across 6,185 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Penalty disposition
ⓘ Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$120K
proposed penalties
$104K
current assessed
$104K
paid to date
$453
outstanding
475 assessments are final orders; 13 contested dockets.
Of $48K in penalties contested before the Commission, $33K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-07-01.
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.
20.0%
significant & substantial
2.7%
high negligence or reckless
19.8%
reasonably likely or greater
23.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.4% none, 38.5% low, 58.4% moderate, 2.7% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2025
ⓘ 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 coal mining average was 3.19 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
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
2025 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2024 * 7.71 7.71 0.000
2023 * 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.
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.

Respirable coal dust
ⓘ Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.

Last sampled: 2026-06-18
83%
within 1.5 mg/m3
716
samples
3.69
dust max (mg/m3)
7
over MSHA ECV
ⓘ The excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
294 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 422 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • FINE COAL PLANT OPERATOR245
  • FROTH CELL OPERATOR188
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR106

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2026-06-29
1.0
silica avg (%)
107
samples
8.5
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • FINE COAL PLANT OPERATOR46
  • FROTH CELL OPERATOR43
  • MINE FOREMAN/MINE MANAGER10
See US coal mines ranked by silica in their dust samples.

Noise
ⓘ The share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.

Last sampled: 2026-03-09
11%
over PEL
150
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • FROTH CELL OPERATOR27
  • FINE COAL PLANT OPERATOR23
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR21
See US mines ranked by noise samples over the legal limit.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, 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.
52 citations taken to the federal commission · 11% of citations on record
  • Settled 45 · 87%
  • Stood as issued 7 · 13%
66%
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 38 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
33%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$48K proposed, $32K 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 2014-08-31. Vacated and withdrawn citations are removed from the file this view attributes through, so that outcome is slightly undercounted here.
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 operator contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEVA 2012-433 Settlement McCarthy 2013 $16K → $10K
WEVA 2014-0612 Settlement McCarthy 2015 $12K → $9K
WEVA 2013-1128 Settlement Lesnick 2014 $7K → $5K
WEVA 2014-0783 Settlement McCarthy 2015 $3K → $2K
WEVA 2014-1952 Settlement Lesnick 2015 $3K → $2K
WEVA 2014-2122 Settlement McCarthy 2015 $2K → $1K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2024
1
2022
2
2020
1
2018
2
2017
2
2015
2
2014
3
2013
8
2012
8
2011
2
2009
1
2008
4
2007
2
2006
3
2005
3
2004
2
2002
10
2001
3
2000
5
1999
5
1998
4
1997
2
1996
3
1995
3

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where Kepler Processing Company LLC stands on silica, penalties, and injury rate

MSHA's standard limits respirable silica to 50 micrograms per cubic metre, but MSHA publishes dust and quartz as separate files and never the silica figure itself. We derive it per sample, score it against the limit, and set the operator's injury rate against a benchmark built from the full MSHA operator record. With the 26-year penalty trail, contest posture, and fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.

The federal record itself stays free on this site. What costs money, and why.

See a sample report
Need a different cut of the data? Ask us