Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines, discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams. . West Virginia Congressman Ken Heckler (D) had offered a bill in 1971 to ban all surface coal mining. Jules Loh, Associated Press, Buffalo Creek Hollow: A Nice Place to Live Then The Flood, March 5, 1972. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Erin L. McCoy, The U.S. Has Nearly 600 Coal Waste Sites. Somewhere along there I lost that boy of mine. A search of Public Service Commission records in response to Pearl Woodrums complaint failed to produce any proof that dams No.1 and No. 93-118, Stanford Law Review, Vol. The Citizens report also noted that strip mining above the dam had likely contributed to its over-filling. Were owned by the coal company. July 1971Pittstons vice-president of industrial engineering and training 30, No. of 38 West Virginia Coal Waste Dams warning about Aberfam. Today is the 40th anniversary of the dam bursting which was owned by Pittston Coal Company. is not a proper party, to strike certain allegations in the complaint, and in the In the early days of the European settlement of Australia, especially during the 1800's, it was common for large numbers of Aboriginal people (men, women and children) to be massacred by the white settlers, including by police and soldiers. Associated Press wire story reporting "400 missing" in a front-page story that ran in The Tuscaloosa Times newspaper in Alabama. forbidden in December 1970. In March 1968, DNR notified the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney of Pearl Woodrums letter, but no action was taken at the local level or by the state. of Law Dean Willard Lorensen) brings no criminal indictments against Pittston. regulations forbid the closing off of any stream or the impoundment of water He spoke with residents, including a woman who said she lost eighteen relatives in the flood. Click for copy. We do not see this as a disaster in a vacuum, he said, but a series of events of coal dominating the lives of West Virginians.. He lives in my building. Mining industry-related incidents are a longstanding reality for the residents of West Virginia, Young writes, echoing the sentiments Ralph Nader expressed decades earlier. In 1974, the 645 Buffalo Creek residents suing Pittston Coal settled for $13.5 million, which amounted to approximately $13,000 paid out to each plaintiff. The state of West Virginia also sued Pittston for $100 million for disaster and relief damages, but Governor Arch A. Moore settled that case for just $1 million three days before leaving office in 1977. In 1854, he married Margaretha Weidner (1832-1910). Jamie Goodman/Brian Sewell, Remembering Buffalo Creek, The Appalachian Voice, February 21, 2012. As I rode that house down the creek I could see that the bottom of it was above those telephone poles in the holler.. 2023 West Virginia University. The commission consisted of nine men with ties to the coal industryor a vested interest in proving that Pittston Coal and state regulating agencies were not responsible. Two Films 1975 and 1984, Appalshop.org. Alvid Davis was working outside his home in the community of Stowe when he looked up and saw the flood waters coming, according to an Associated Press report of February 28, 1972. Later accounts from survivors would describe some of the horrendous moments that families faced as the coal flood tore through the valley. MayA group of Buffalo Creek disaster survivors traveled to Pittstons September 2, 1972West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry into the The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors . I didnt have no fear for water, Id just jump right in any lake or river and swim. Headlines from an Associated Press story reporting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- also testifying at U.S. Senate hearings -- found the the Pittston Coal Co. dam above Buffalo Creek was "doomed from the start.". Williams explained that such mining was only viable because the state allowed it to externalize costs i.e., impose its pollution, mine wastes, and environmental damage on landowners and the general public. He said his family washed off and cooked chickens that were killed in the aftermath of the flood. .. That failure sent 300 million gallons of liquid coal waste tearing through the underground mine chambers, then spewing out of mountainside portals into valley streams below. It also held coal reserves of 1.5 billion tons, mostly high-grade metallurgical coal used in steel-making. We have had a couple of conversations since he moved in and that is how I found out he was from Logan, more specifically, Man, West Virginia. George Vecsey, West Virginians Living in Hollows Fear That Mine Waste Piles in Their Areas Will Cause Next Flood, New York Times, March 6, 1972. Chance of rain 100%. Buffalo Creek Coal Mine, Logan County, WV Written at SFSU in 2017 About 45 years ago, at the U.S.' coal mining peak, the country had one of its worst mining-related disasters at Buffalo Creek, Logan County, West Virginia [1]. However, in this case, Dam No. miners. 242-246, Appalachian Journal, Vol. 45, No. Share Buffalo Creek Flood. Engineering, Not Rainfall, Given Blame, Logan Banner, March 9, 1972. to the one at Buffalo Creek collapses, killing 147 people. He argues that stereotypesparticularly the white trash stereotypes depicting Appalachians as lazy, ignorant, and hopelessallow for the continued exploitation of Appalachia by industry. Judge Hall suggests selecting 4-5 sample cases on the question of liability. In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. September 30, 1870: Harpers Ferry flood. Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. The Citizens Commission found Pittston Coal reckless and negligent and the state negligent in ensuring safety compliance. Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster; Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster . The huge wall of coal wastewater was 30 feet high and 550 feet wide as it gouged its way down the hollow, first smashing through Saunders and then, successively through Pardee, Lorado, Londale, and a dozen other small villages in the narrow creek valley. Hall agreed and the documents Creek dams. (2) Stern, G.M. The water was there, and then it was gone Edna Baisden And on the morning of February 26, 1972, just after 8:00 am, that worst fear was realized. Through the 1940s coal mining and coal washing including dumping coal refuse and coal wash water occurred in the area of the Middle Fork, one of three headwater streams that formed Buffalo Creek. On February 26, 1972, tragedy struck a small mining community in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account. The Buffalo Creek Disaster - Los Angeles County Bar Association EN English Deutsch Franais Espaol Portugus Italiano Romn Nederlands Latina Dansk Svenska Norsk Magyar Bahasa Indonesia Trke Suomi Latvian Lithuanian esk Unknown Stern meets with Pittstons counsel concerning settlement. Robert Weedall, West Virginias climatologist, noted in later remarks that yes, Act of God is a legal term, but there were other perhaps more apt legal terms that might apply to what had happened in Buffalo Creek, such as involuntary manslaughter or criminal negligence. The record, however, would prove that acts of man had everything to do with what happened at Buffalo Creek. Me driving a bus, I knew about 80% of these people, and every name that went by, I can visualize them at that time, Moore said. .In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. Buffalo Creek, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, 2012. Arnold and Porter gave Pittston a $32.5 million written settlement proposal. February 1972. The toxic coal slurry poured into Kentuckys Coldwater and Wolf creeks, then to the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, traveling more than 70 miles downstream, and eventually reaching the Ohio River, with blackwater visible at Cincinnati. Low 54F. They flew me out and we landed right here on this road. right below the dam. Roland Staten, a coal miner who had managed to jump off of his house as it was being carried away by the rushing waters, held on to his son as he jumped. J.L. (Rockefeller would later be elected governor and U.S. Thomas N. Bethell and Davitt McAteer, The Pittston Mentality: Manslaughter on Buffalo Creek, Washington Monthly, May 1972. May 1, 1974Discovery deadline. The Buffalo Creek (W.Va.) flood is one of the most extensively examined and longest followed disasters in the psychiatric study of trauma. Map Feature: Coal Ash Contaminated Sites & Hazard Dams (U.S.), EarthJustice.org. The little girl, Darla in September, she was a Kindergarten student and she got on my bus one morning and her mother had cleaned house, Moore said, and she brought me some plastic flowers that she had got out of the garbage and brought to me, and I thought that was so sweet. "one acre of area covered by water to a depth of 300 feet", OR amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; One lawsuit was filed by the state of West Virginia, while another class action lawsuit was filed by survivors of the flood. dumping coal refuse into the mouth of Middle Fork hollow. It wasnt long after the flood that lawsuits were brought against Pittston Coal, the company responsible for the slurry dams. U. S. Department of Interior, Task Force to Study Coal Waste Hazards, Preliminary Analysis of the Coal Refuse Dam Failure at Saunders, West Virginia February 26, 1972, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1972. At approximately 8 a.m., a coal waste dam collapsed on the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek, releasing 132 million gallons of water, coal refuse, and silt into the narrow mountain valley. Many in the downstream communities were keenly aware of the unstable nature of these impoundments, and expressed their concern to government officials. In fact, there had already been signs of trouble at the dams, which should have raised alarms and efforts at corrective construction. The Charleston Gazette of February 1972 reporting on the early flood death total, with front-page photo of damaged homes thrown about on the valley floor. Table of Contents. May 1972, Wash., DC. Peter Galuszka's "Thunder on the Mountain". "Coal: A Human History", 2016 edition. The legal teams on both sides also are discussing a settlement. The June 4, 1974Proposed representative plaintiff lists from both sides due. 3) was built over Dam No. Approximately $5.5 million was provided for property and wrongful-death damages, with approximately $8 million for the psychic impairment claims. Most of Buffalo Creek was previously owned by the Popp family, who ran a dairy farm before converting to grain crops such as soybeans, wheat and corn. McClintock was a field worker for the Black Lung Association, an organization focused on the debilitating disease common to miners. Arnold & Porters medical and psychological experts started interviewing and For the first time, individuals who were not present at the scene of a disaster were allowed to recover for mental injuries. March 2, 1973Judge Hall holds hearing on Pittstons motion to dismiss The flood caused many tears, pain and death. Actual death toll would be 125, nearly twice early reports. . Buffalo Creek Disaster is not just about heroes but a dramatic tale that involves the loss of lives and property and the legal war containing a litigation drama that resulted in the payment of the settlement. After then-president of the United Mine Workers Union, Arnold Miller and others were rebuffed by Gov. Chad Motrie's 2003 history of Appalachian strip mining. The people he encountered, Breiding said, were thankful that somebody still remembered, because its something that has been buried in many peoples memories and buried in the past. As William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun: The past is never dead. But those improved practices didnt last. A few helicopters were used initially until local miners and others, and the National Guard, began clearing debris and building makeshift roads and bridges. Many coal waste impoundments had to be either modified or closed to eliminate hazardous conditions. The Buffalo Creek Disaster, February 26, 1972 One of worst floods in US occurred here 26 February 1972, when Buffalo Mining Co. impoundment dam for mine waste broke, releasing over 130 million gallons of black waste water: killed 125; property losses over $50 million; and thousands left homeless. The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site. EPA had initially estimated the spill would take four-to-six weeks to clean up, however, three years later they were still cleaning up. The Buffalo Creek Disaster Memorial, located in Kistler, WV, stands as a reminder of one of the darkest hours in West Virginia history. Loss of Communality at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp. million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure. Feb 27, 1972. Buffalo Creek Disaster YE HAO GBL395 Summer 2014 Synopsis: . The plaintiffs settled out of court for $13.5 million in 1974, with each individual receiving an average of $13,000 after legal costs. All we had was the clothes on our backs and I prep, I put back not a lot of food, but as much as Janet (his wife) will let me, and I prepare for nuclear war. Logan Flood Toll 66; 400 Missing, Hundreds Search Disaster Area; Cause of Break Gets Attention, Charleston Daily Mail, February 28, 1972. Mimi Pickering (Film Director), Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (essay), Library of Congress, 1978 (in 1984, filmmaker Mimi Pickering completed Buffalo Creek Revisited, an update on the flood and its consequences). The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report From the Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry, 1973 (as posted at: wvculture.org). Barbara Brunty watched from higher ground with her 3-year-old daughter as their home was swept away along with the girls Christmas presents: a toy motorcycle, a kitchen set and a Chatty Cathy doll. MSHA recognizes those who were impacted in the 1972 flood that killed 125 and injured over 1100 people. February 25Because of heavy rains, dam #3 was rising 1-2 inches per hour. February 26, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating mine disasters in U.S. history. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal government site. Never. Sources: The Herald Dispatch, newspaper of Huntington, WV, Thomas Marsh, and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. October 6, 1982: Buffalo Creek flood settlement. [I]n true Appalachian fashion, few people are ready to accept the responsibility of leadership is another. How much was the settlement? BMCs vice The tragedy being spoken of is the Buffalo . I just got done buying a Geiger counter and rebuilding it for someone because everybodys getting afraid of Russia right now.. Robert Weedall, West Virginias climatologist, noted in later remarks that yes, Act of God is a legal term, but there were other perhaps more apt legal terms that might apply to what had happened in Buffalo Creek, such as involuntary manslaughter or criminal negligence. The record, however, would prove that acts of man had everything to do with what happened at Buffalo Creek. The law appears ill-suited to relieve the victims of a disaster, who often have been scarred emotionally not by physical contact but by the destruction of their families, homes, and communities, writes Robert L. Rabin in a 1978 Stanford Law Review article examining the legal ramifications of Buffalo Creek. To counter Eriksons claims, Ewen and Lewis include survivor testimony that he neglected. The report also noted the possibility that water and coal wastes in abandoned underground mines could break through auger holes and flow into the impoundment behind dam #3, as the practice of disposing coal sludges in abandoned underground mines had occurred in other areas of the state, with sludges breaking through to the surface in some cases. Part of that is to tell the survivors' story, to make it impossible . Gertie Moore was a bus driver when the flood happened and over a half-century later, she still grows emotional when hearing the names of the deceased and recalling the events of that fateful day. During the flood, 125 people lost their lives, 1,100 were injured and 4,000 were left homeless. Hall. It just doesnt seem that long ago that it happened, Harvey said. Bridges were smashed to bits. There was a gold trout out there I was trying to catch, he said. WVU is an EEO/Affirmative Action employer Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran. December 1970Pittston employee drafts memorandum warning that federal Ewen and Lewis highlight dozens of statements from Eriksons book that demonstrate, they believe, his reinforcement of stereotypes and his blaming the victim mentality toward the residents of Buffalo Creek. You know, its not like your house burned down, Hall said. Kanawha County Bar Association voted to investigate Arnold & Porters alleged Richard Carelli, Mining Official Blames Explosions on Flood Water Hitting Hot Slag Pile, Charleston Gazette, March 9, 1972. Depta writes: Theyre bringing in trailers so the next time theres a Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. Army personnel, the Red Cross, state and county officials were all on the scene by then as well, trying to feed, clothe and comfort survivors. But West Virginia newspapers in the area were covering the tragedy closely, as the grim business of accounting for the dead, injured, and homeless continued. Media Blow Held Worse Than Flood, Charleston Gazette, March 8, 1972. Restockings now happen several times a year. The Buffalo Creek Disaster 50 Years From Flooding Disaster Strikes Outpouring of Support Recovery and Redevelopment Lawsuits Filed Buffalo Creek Today "A bridge collapses. dam will hold. Specific problems, such as the presence of mine workings near impoundments, are dealt with using sound engineering approaches. It was The number stern settled on was 32.5 million dollars. Looking back at the Buffalo Creek Disaster. Gertie Moore, a former Logan County Schools bus driver, tearfully recalls two children who perished in the Buffalo Creek Flood during a memorial service at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library on Friday, Feb. 24. recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report. I teach it. 2 held and halted the water. WV Governor, Arch Moore. Judge Christie, the federal district judge originally assigned to the case, removes But these werent the only investigations; there were also several others, including: one or more Congressional committees, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Still other operations use injection techniques to pump various coal wastes underground. Mine Safety and Health Administration The Buffalo Creek flood was a disaster that occurred on February 26, 1972, when the Pittston Coal Company's coal slurry impoundment dam #3, located on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia, burst, four days after having been declared 'satisfactory' by a federal mine inspector. [W]e decided we would band together and hope it would relieve our tensions and fears, stated one member of the group. We saw the water lift up our house, said Enda Baisden Short, recalling for The Herald Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia that she and her husband had run from their home early that Saturday morning just prior to coal waste flood. Uploaded by api-369440949. The chair of the citizens commission, Norman Williams, then deputy director of West Virginias Department of Natural Resources, called for the outlawing of strip mining throughout the state. In a court statement later, Mr. Staten recounted his travail and losing his wife: When I looked back and saw her she said, Take care of my baby.Thats the last time I saw her., Mr. Staten and his son, meanwhile, swept along in the water, were struggling to save themselves. In a 2012 interview, Porterfield said: [I]t looked like a battlefield. discovery confidential. You build them up with a bunch of political propaganda.., he said, also suggesting that the coal operators money installed the politicians in Washington, and then, you dont care nothing about us., Not long after the dams had burst, and the flood waters had raged through the Buffalo Creek communities, Pittstons New York public relations office, attempting to absolve the company from legal responsibility, issued a news release stating that the flood was an act of God. The dam, said the Pittston officials, was simply incapable of holding the water God poured into it.. The current members of [the Governors] panel are either oriented to coal or apologists for the tragedy, so we are creating our own commission of 19 residents to take testimony from eyewitnesses, said Pat McClintock at the time. The Corps repeatedly billed the state $ 3.7 million for this work, but Moore kept the invoices confidential and didn't pay them. Some residents in the area, especially those who lived in the town of Saunders, located in the valley directly below the dams, had worried for years about the dams strength. In the U.S. Congress at the time, federal legislation was being considered to regulate strip mining, and the Buffalo Creek disaster figured into the debate. I enjoyed it when I was small., He said the adults decided that if they got the kids involved they wouldnt be as apt to go out and start worrying about getting on drugs or drinking and stuff like that.. 20 years prior to the Buffalo Creek flood, a similar incident had occurred. George Vecsey, Two Rival Inquiries Are Begun into Flood in West Virginia, New York Times, March 12, 1972, p. 70. Before that, I was terrified.. Out of the total settlement, Arnold and Porter took a legal fee of $3 million. The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. Ken Ward, Jr., Agencies Failed to Protect People, Inspector Recalls, Charleston Gazette, Tuesday, February 25, 1997. bringing the total to 625, and $64 million in damages. Ive been fishing here for almost 17 years. motions due. Hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs United States Senate July 20, 1972. The community continues to honor and remember those lost during the Buffalo Creek mining disaster. October 23, 1890: "Wreck on the C&O" November 4, 1985: Floods devastate West Virginia. 2/3 (152/153) (2018), pp. Film Clip, The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act Of Man, YouTube.com (8:22), February 20, 2012. survivor syndrome, what is known today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Modern Marvels: The Buffalo Creek Disaster (History Channel production), YouTube.com (9:27). Or something else altogether? And people die. Pittston announced in 1999 that it was leaving the coal business. Based on the testimony obtained from hearings, technical reports and our own field inspection, the Commission concludes that: Dam No. At approximately 8 a.m. on Feb. 26, 1972, a man-made coal slurry impoundment dam, which was operated by the Pittston Coal Company, burst following a prolonged period of heavy rainfall. Nader commented, shortly after the flood, that the Buffalo Creek massacre is only one more in the long series of tragedies which coal corporations have perpetrated upon the people of Appalachia, especially of West Virginia. Note that Nader did not mince words, labelling the event a massacre.. Afterward, the survivors informally sit and talk about their memories from the flood and how it affected their lives. That film was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2005. Their lives brought against Pittston vice-president of industrial engineering and training 30, No Black... 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