The Buffalo Creek Disaster of February 26, 1972, occurred when Pittston Coal Company’s coal slurry impoundment dam #3 in Logan County, West Virginia, burst forth after heavy rains, unleashing 132 million gallons of black wastewater. The burst in dam #3 subsequently caused dams #1 and #2 to fail. The disaster left 118 dead, 7 missing, 1,121 injured, and over 4,000 homeless. Property damages exceeded $50 million. According to Pittston Coal, the dam failure had been an ‘Act of God’. This ‘Act of God’ occurred only four days after the impoundment had been inspected and declared ‘satisfactory‘.
The Governor of West Virginia at the time, Arch Moore, formed an investigative commission, which consisted solely of coal industry supporters. After the commission denied a request that a coal miner be added to the commission, a Citizen’s Commission formed to perform their own independent investigation of the disaster. The citizen’s report concluded that Pittston Coal was guilty of the murder of at least 124 people.
Previously in 1966, after a coal-waste dump in South Aberfan, Wales gave way killing 147 people, a geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines conducted a survey of potentially dangerous slag heaps in the coal-mining regions of the U.S. In that survey the Buffalo Creek dam was reported to be ‘unstable’. Later, the U.S. Interior Department gave a report on 38 West Virginia Coal Waste Dams to the Governor. Those in need of immediate repair were fixed, but no other corrections or inspections were done. In February of 1968, concerned residents of Buffalo Creek wrote the Governor expressing their fears that the dams were in danger of collapsing, but the dams were merely looked at and no corrections were made. Dam 3 collapsed in February 1971 causing black water to bubble up in the impoundments behind the dam. More coal refuse was dumped in to fill the break in the dam.
Due to the negligence on the part of Pittston Coal, some 625 survivors sued the Pittston Coal Company for $64 million in damages. They settled for $13.5 million. A second suit by 348 child survivors sought $225 million and settled for $4.8 million. The State of West Virginia also sued the company seeking $100 million, but Governor Moore settled for a mere $1 million. Gerald M. Stern, an attorney with Arnold & Porter, the law firm that had represented the case, wrote a book dedicated to the victims of the flood, entitled, “The Buffalo Creek Disaster.” The West Virginia Division of Culture and History has also compiled information concerning the event on their website.
Buffalo Creek by T. Paige
Tags: anniversary, break, buffalo creek disaster, coal sludge dam, Coal Slurry, fail, flood, Sludge Impoundment
Arch Moore Jr. eventually spent time in jail, not for his part in this crime, but for accepting a bagful of cash in a parking lot handed to him for political favors.
Ex-W. Virginia Governor Sentenced to 5 Years, Fined
July 11, 1990|From Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former three-term Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., convicted of corruption and characterized as remorseless by prosecutors, was sentenced Tuesday to five years and 10 months in prison and fined $170,000.
Moore, 67, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and filing false income taxes during his 1984 and 1988 campaigns and during his third term, from 1985-89. He lost the 1988 reelection bid.
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Thank goodness he raised a daughter that stands behind WV also t.paige
How about a daughter that is more concerned with filling her pockets than serving and protecting like she was voted in to do? If she really cared about the people of Appalachia she’d tell good ole Don Blankenship to go screw himself and save our mountains and water.
Actually she has eM. Boy you need to get out of the treehouse more. Where do you think Arch coal come from? LOL I am amused. Why do you not like her? Please inform us….she actually took a pay cut to be a representative.
Are you sure about that pay cut? I’m still on the fence with her. I am not convinced she cares about the people in WV. I’m leaning more towards she cares about who is lining her pockets with campaign money and keeping her in her cushy seat in DC. ???
Actually she has saved WV money. eg Going against Bush in govt. funding for offshore oil well drilling. I think your not looking up in the cities of WV. I do not see her (whatever) lining the pockets mean. Actually, look at the federal and state dollars that RBC, has drained from a tax-payer to put his name on these buildings you evidently do not see. Anyways, were Boone Countianswe should all argue a republican in office right? Of course, she is not what the unions wanted us to vote for. So, how about Patriot, you know how things are going in St. Louis? That is a city in WV isn’t it? I wonder any one going to India? A company has bought out Trinity coal I heard. Let me know how those protests go. Oh, and if we let our representatives get comfy in cushy seats, we are the ones at fault. We are the ones that vote.
That is RCB
India’s Essar Group Ltd. will acquire U.S. coal producer Trinity Coal for $600 million, giving the global steelmaker direct access to a key raw material that’s seen a recovery in demand. The Wall Street Journal
A Russian company has agreed to purchase a family-owned coal company in Raleigh County.
According to international reports, Mechel Mining is buying Bluestone Coal Corporation for $425 million, plus stock. – The State Journal
Looks like it doesn’t matter who is raping and pillaging our state and country as long as someone gets a paycheck.
Here’s a better one Massey has purchased Cumberland! Or at least I was told, I haven’t seen anything official yet. Woohoo less people on welfare…or wait more miners going back to work!!!!! Oh and I guess it doesn’t matter who sells out too, huh?
Oh yeah the Russian company bought out bluestone some time back. The guy then bought the Greenbrier. YW.