buffalo creek disaster settlement

National Guard helicopters picked up survivors and delivered supplies. MAN, W.Va. (AP) The day before the disaster hit, Perry Harvey went fishing on Buffalo Creek for one reason. [I]f you dont do some-thing, were all going to be washed away., By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. 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. I watched them crumble. Buy Now. 1977 edition of Gerald Stern's book on class-action lawsuit he brought against Pittston Coal Co. on behalf of Buffalo Creek survivors and settled in 1974. Human relationships in this community had been derived from traditional bonds of kinship and neighborliness. Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. February 5, 1968Buffalo Creek resident wrote the Governor of West Virginia I didnt have no fear for water, Id just jump right in any lake or river and swim. The Senate subcommittee would later issue some three volumes of material and by June 1972 would call for new legislation to prevent disasters like Buffalo Creek, offering a Mined Area Protection Bill, a measure, however, that would not be adopted. 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. gave way, killing eight people. 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. Many homes were lost during the Buffalo Creek mining disaster in 1972. It was the flood at lick fork. The result of the dam bursting was 132 million gallons of black wastewater being unleashed onto the 16 communities that encompass Buffalo Creek. Last month the Environmental Protection Agency ordered utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. Ben A. Franklin, Flood Survivors Sue Mine Concern; Plaintiffs Ask $64-Million Seek Damages Over Survivor Syndrome; 800 Pages of Testimony; A Sound Like Thunder, New York Times, April 18, 1973. He said his family washed off and cooked chickens that were killed in the aftermath of the flood. J.L. Theres also the risk of environmental damage from coal ash, the toxic wastewater left over from burning coal at power plants. Less than a year later, in February 1971, Dam No. Family and Character Change at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp 295-299. First Lieut. 128-129. Last updated on December 30, 2015. 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. Congressman Ken Hechler (D-WV)), who also came to the area on Sunday, February 27th, told reporters that the U.S. Bureau of Mines and state agencies had failed to demonstrate sufficient concern for the protection of the safety of the people who work in the mines and live in the mining communities. Hechler also pointed to what he believed was a contributing cause of the flooding: As I looked through Buffalo Creek valley yesterday, it struck me again that the entire valley is honeycombed with strip mines and the waste from deep mines so that the soil can no longer hold the [rain] water. Hechler also slammed the coal industrys power in the area, saying, the people are prisoners of the coal industry And with some irony, he added, the only building left intact in one Buffalo community was the company store., On Monday, February 28th, U.S. However, adequate funding was never appropriated by teh West Virginia legislature to enforce the law. The Buffalo Creek that survives today is calm in places and flows briskly in others, its rapids gurgling. motions due. The Earth Justice organization, one of the environmental groups following this issue, has complied a U.S. map of these sites as shown above. Dam No. As if some foreign enemy had flown in and nuked the place. State regulators sued the mines owner. The .gov means its official. 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. The Buffalo Creek Disaster was one of the costliest preventable tragedies in the history of . The community continues to honor and remember those lost during the Buffalo Creek mining disaster. 39, No. The legal teams on both sides also are discussing a settlement. and submitted other discovery requests to Pittston. settled a lawsuit over this breakdown. Ben A. Franklin, New York Times News Service, Slag Piles Imperil 5th of State Nader, Charleston Gazette, March 5, 1972. 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. Pittston objected to Arnold & Porters more definite statement, asking the BMCs vice The Charleston Gazette reporting on the rising death toll of the Buffalo Creek Disaster and Pittstons PR office calling the disaster an act of God. Civ Pro: Buffalo Creek Disaster notes Questions o Who are the Parties Plaintiff: Workers Defendant: Coal company: Buffalo Mining Company (and Pittston Company, based in NYC = sole stockholder) o One of the largest employers in the West Virginia county Attorneys Author Mr. Staker (Famous lawyer) Judges Judge Christie (left b/c of his old friend) A motion to make the resolution binding on Pittston management was defeated by When the water set it down again, it just flattened out on the ground. Mining industry-related incidents are a longstanding reality for the residents of West Virginia, Young writes, echoing the sentiments Ralph Nader expressed decades earlier. Arnold and Porter noticed Pittstons president and vice-presidents depositions The pool was within three feet of the crest of the dam, and ominous cracks appeared. Kapp, Disaster at Buffalo Creek. He said he feels his experience with the flood is what led him to lead that lifestyle. West Virginia Congressman Ken Heckler (D) had offered a bill in 1971 to ban all surface coal mining. Click for copy. Some survivors reported homes exploding or splintering apart with the wave's impact. April 16, 1973Plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint to add additional 1912The C&O Railroad build the first spur line by Buffalo Creek. One retired coal miner who survived the flood, but who lost his wife, daughter and granddaughter in the disaster, explained what he experienced in one Charleston Gazette account: How I got out of that water, I dont know I rode the house a long ways. Lori Kersey, 40 Years Ago: Buffalo Creek Disaster, Charleston Gazette-Mail, February 25, 2012. The National Research Council's 2001 report to Congress on coal waste impoundments. 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. In addition to the deaths, the disaster injured 1,100 and left more than 4,000 people homeless. (AP Photo/John Raby), My dad and brothers all were fishermen and miners, Harvey said. damaged and destroyed bridges, roads, and schools for $50 million compensatory a federal safety standard prohibiting refuse piles from impeding drainage or impounding 1 (Apr., 1978), pp. Robert Shogan's 2004 book, "The Battle of Blair Mountain". plaintiffs. I was terrified of water because I lived through it as a kid and I was just traumatized, but I tell you what, after that dam broke and I seen what I seen, I never was afraid of water again. The couple had nine children. ensued. Brittany Patterson, The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S., AlleghenyFront.org, June 22, 2018. In addition to the two West Virginia reports, there were also several others, including the U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing record already mentioned; a U.S. Geological Survey report; a U.S. Department of the Interior Report; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report all of which, in one form or another, found fault with the design, integrity, and lack of oversight of the dams, and how regulators and the Pittston Coal Company failed to meet their responsibilities for public health and safety. 2023 West Virginia University. The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. Aerial photograph from 'The Herald Dispatch' (Huntington, WV) captures some of the enormous damage in the Buffalo Creek valley, showing collection of homes uprooted and floated down the valley, covering roads and rail lines. Pittstons Oil Division applied to Maines Department of Environmental Protection The Citizens Commission found Pittston Coal reckless and negligent and the state negligent in ensuring safety compliance. Arnold & Porters medical and psychological experts started interviewing and Its nine members, however, were either sympathetic to the coal industry, or government officials whose departments might have been complicit in the dams failures. Still, the worries for citizens living near either kind of impoundment are equally valid, whether of the mine-site or powerplant variety. Total property damage was estimated at $50 million (about $340 million in 2022 dollars). Logan County West Virginia Man, 1997. October 6, 1982: Buffalo Creek flood settlement. recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report. 1 (FALL 1999), pp. Kai Erikson's book, "Everything In Its Path: Destruc-tion of Community in The Buffalo Creek Flood". Some of the flood damage in the aftermath of the Buffalo Creek disaster in West Virginia, showing "mud line" on damaged home, indicating approximation of flood levels for some structures, while others were carried away in the wave or disintegrated into pieces. Youve still got but it was gone, just like being somewhere and a volcano went off and wiped out your entire village, and even after it was all over with, they went through there and tore out our little road and destroyed all of our little communities, and the people that wanted to couldnt even move back to where they used to live at., It hurts, Hall said. Each failure added millions of gallons to the monstrous wave of water bearing down on the residents of the countryside and towns below. By September 1972, the two competing West Virginia commissions one from the Governor, and the other a Citizens Commission issued their reports. For as it turns out, there are coal waste impoundments, and coal waste disposal methods, of many kinds. Modern Marvels: The Buffalo Creek Disaster (History Channel production), YouTube.com (9:27). Men and women, children and animals were floating in that high wall of water.. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Books & DVD"; 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.. Stern met with plaintiffs and obtained settlement authority. Events Leading To The Buffalo Creek Disaster, BuffaloCreekFlood.org. May 1, 1971Pittston acquiredBMCand assumed sole management An accounting of the disaster, and multiple investigations, would then proceed to piece together what had happened there, focused on the coal mining and dam building. In 1977, Governor Moore, with three days left in office, accepted a settlement offer of $1 million for a suit in which the state sought $100 million from the coal company. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. January 1, 1971Pittstons umbrella insurance underwriters imposed a $1 3 on the Middle Fork was born out of the age-old practice in the coal fields of disposing of waste material and was constructed without utilizing technology developed for earthen dams and without using or consulting with professional persons qualified to design and build such a structure. The news of the Buffalo Creek Disaster broke variously across the nation the next few days, in part due to the difficulty of getting to the site. I told you this was going to happen, he said, I told you. He had voted for Randolph, but was frustrated with the political process and how the locals were regarded by most politicians. 2 (Jan., 1978), pp. BMCfilled the hole with more coal refuse. Support JSTOR Daily! 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. The flood wave destroyed houses and mobile homes, uprooted trees, and swept topsoil, huge rocks, trucks and cars downstream. bringing the total to 625, and $64 million in damages. Clearly and simply, said the report, people living downstream from the Buffalo Mining Companys coal refuse dam at Saunders were the victims of gross negligence.. By DYLAN VIDOVICH February 28, 1972. Click for copy. For the first time, individuals who were not present at the scene of a disaster were allowed to recover for mental injuries. The first coal camps at Buffalo Creek were built. Ken Ward, Jr., Agencies Failed to Protect People, Inspector Recalls, Charleston Gazette, Tuesday, February 25, 1997. As the skies cleared on Sunday, February 27, West Virginias Governor, Arch Moore toured the area by helicopter, describing the awesome destruction he viewed from above. EPA has made hazard ratings for hundreds of coal combustion waste ponds and impoundments in the U.S., ranking them for the public safety dangers and environmental risks they would pose in the event of failure. list is late. They also worried about the mining practice of dumping coal mining slag or gob coal mining waste into the dams. Arnold and Porter gave Pittston a $32.5 million written settlement proposal. You know, its not like your house burned down, Hall said. A few helicopters were used initially until local miners and others, and the National Guard, began clearing debris and building makeshift roads and bridges. Youve still got your church. A separate settlement for survivors amounted to about $13,000 per plaintiff. The state then cited Pittston for violations but failed to follow up with inspections. The "suspenseful and completely absorbing story" (San Francisco Chronicle) of how survivors of the worst coal-mining disaster in history triumphed over corporate irresponsibilitywritten by the young lawyer who took on their case and won.One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of . And this was just another little installment in the progression of a hard life, I guess., Congressman Ken Hechler put it a little more bluntly. Buffalo Creek Disaster YE HAO GBL395 Summer 2014 Synopsis: . Moore regarding their request that a coal miner be added to the commission, a separate Citizens Commission was formed to provide an independent review of the disaster. Sunshine and clouds mixed. At one point, West Virginia Governor Arch Moore, complaining that the states image was getting a bad rap from the media, closed the Buffalo Creek area to reporters. Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 19191920, Babels novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare. that the ultimate effect of [any] claims [related to the Buffalo Creek disaster] November 1968Consolidation Coal Company mine explosion at Farmington, Miles away, a coal companys hillside impoundment dams collapsed, sending slurry thundering downhill and into the hollow, inundating small communities and killing 125 people. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. 1972About 5,000 people lived in the Buffalo Creek holler including 1,000 West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. August 8, 1972Congress passed the National Dam Inspection Act. annual stockholders meeting in Richmond, Va., to petition for fair restitution. Ben A. Franklin, New York Times News Service, Dam Failures Common: Whos Liable for Flooding, Charleston Gazette, February 28, 1972. The three dams also served as something of a crude pollution-prevention system: filtering, settling out, and retaining the dirty prep plant particles and toxins found in the coal wastewater, also enabling some reuse of the water in processing. The report found that company and state officials were ill informed of the problems of refuse dams and had not taken timely measures. 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. Pittston was also the fifth largest corporate landowner in the Appalachian region at the time, holding nearly 375,000 acres. Pittston, meanwhile, would inform its investors that the 1974 settlement that had come with one of the survivors lawsuits did not impact the companys profit margin. Associated Press wire story reporting "400 missing" in a front-page story that ran in The Tuscaloosa Times newspaper in Alabama. 417-424, Appalachian Journal, Vol. Court to make the plaintiffs state their dollar damage claims with more particularity. 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. May 1972, Wash., DC. 300 acre-feet of water would be: If you think you have been blocked in error, contact the owner of this site for assistance. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Thunderstorms this evening will give way to steady rain overnight. 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. William E. Davies, James F. Bailey, and Donovan B. Kelly, West Virginias Buffalo Creek Flood: A Study of the Hydrology and Engineering Geology, U.S. Geological Survey, Geological Survey Circular 667, Washington, DC: 1972. hearings, 91 witnesses, and 2,000 pages of transcript that Pittston has shown Buffalo Creek Disaster; however, I have concentrated on the parts of the book that offered me the most insight in terms of procedural strategy. Harveys home was spared, barely. Senator). Children walk along the tracks in what remains of their community along Buffalo Creek, in West Virginia, on Feb. 27, 1972. W. Va. 1974). For those sympathetic to the survivors, Rabins statement rings true. Chronology of a Disaster, BuffaloCreek Flood.org. The people of Appalachia seem to be forever poised at some vague mid-point between ability and disability, is one such Erikson statement. there wasnt any flood. 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. Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster; Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster . Debris was everywhere. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor had already begun an investigation, and by late May 1972 also began a series of public hearings on the Buffalo Creek disaster. However, in this case, Dam No. G. ERALD . Survivor Fred Pierson, who lived at Saunders, never shared his story beyond his close family members or attended a memorial service until last year on the 50th anniversary. Moore would prevail in the election, campaigning heavily in West Virginias coal mining regions, impugning Rockefellers position on strip mining. Buffalo Creek lives on with a legacy of generational trauma for survivors and their kin, but it is often revisited through a legacy of ongoing industrial disasters, from the aforementioned Elk River chemical spill to the 2006 Sago Mine disaster (which killed twelve) and the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster (which killed twenty-nine). 2 (Spring 1973), pp. Buffalo Mining Companys October 5, 1973Plaintiffs filed supplemental more definite statement By March 2, Republican Governor Arch Moore announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flood. June 7, 1974Judge Hall declined to act on Pittstons motion to dismiss plaintiffs The tragedy resulted in a $13.5 million class action settlement, and led to the 1973 Dam . "one acre of area covered by water to a depth of 300 feet", OR but then Gov. Porterfield described a makeshift morgue set up at the local junior high school, likening it to the famous scene from Gone with the Wind in which Scarlett OHara stands astonished looking upon a sea of battlefield casualties. Young details the harm of negative Appalachian stereotypes. The state Legislature had sued Pittston for $100 million. To view our latest e-Edition click the image at left. June 26, 1974The plaintiffs and Pittston settle for $13.5 million. Get your fix of JSTOR Dailys best stories in your inbox each Thursday. Instead, the builders end-dumped and shoved loosely compacted layers of coarse refuse across the valley. West Virginia Governor's report: "The Buffalo Creek Flood And Disaster". April 30, 1974Plaintiffs amended their complaint. to let the plaintiffs see Pittstons insurance documents and refused to keep TVAs spill was from a coal ash impoundment, which is somewhat different than a mine-site slurry impoundment, as it deals with post-combustion, powerplant coal ash, which involves a different regulatory arena than mine-site or coal processing impoundments. By 2003, Pittston had moved into one of its more profitable businesses, private security, then adopting its Brinks Company subsidiary as its new corporate name. Mine Safety Health Administration lists 570 active coal impoundments across the country. Tempers flared there as one local man tore into Randolph. Davis managed to rescue two of his sons, and his neighbors helped pull his 17-year-old daughter from the waters two miles down the hollow. To address this problem, two of the main actions taken by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (the federal mine safety agency at that time, now MSHA) were to strengthen the regulations governing the construction of dams by coal mining companies, and to develop in-house technical expertise on impoundment safety. Like Kalgan mentions these cases sometimes end up "spending more money on litigation costs than on payments that end up in injured plaintiffs pockets" (Kagan, 138). The number stern settled on was 32.5 million dollars. Pittston by then had developed a reputation for poor safety practices, and was ranked second nationally in the number of fatal and non-fatal mine accidents. examining the plaintiffs. A Pittston Coal Group decal sticker listing some of the company's mining locations in the VA-WV area. We won't share it with anyone else. His words paint a picture of a bleak future for a people suffering from a cyclical system of abuse. Somewhere along there I lost that boy of mine. BMCfeared March 2, 1973Judge Hall holds hearing on Pittstons motion to dismiss Hall agreed and the documents I saw my neighbors houses leave. (1972). Thomas Andrews' "Killing for Coal". document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Mannix Porterfield, a reporter who covered the events of that tragic day, later recalled the destruction left in the floods wake. Roads werent where they used to be, nor were houses. At a protest meeting held in the Buffalo Grade School in Accoville a month after the flood, an older woman stood up and shouted out: Ive lived up at the top of the hollow for a long time. Stern met with plaintiffs and obtained settlement authority. Not long thereafter, the dam gave way, creating the horror that unfolded for the Buffalo Creek communities downstream. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report from the Governor's Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry. Pierson said he still feels a bit of anger over the aftermath of the flood. psychic injury while they were physically away from Buffalo Creek during the flood. Hundreds of families lost everything their homes, their belongings, their memorabilia. I wouldve took a gunshot or anything. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Senators and experts gather around scale model of Buffalo Creek area in Senate hearing room showing valley below and three coal waste impoundments (#s 8, 5, & 4) that burst causing catastrophic flood on February 26, 1972. million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure. A few weeks later, on February 22nd, a federal mine inspector and the company safety engineer observed the dams and found conditions satisfactory. LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - It is a day to remember for Logan County. The problem of coal waste impoundments in Appalachia and all across America has not gone away since the 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster. Survey geologist inspects the Buffalo Creek dam and concludes that it was basically Were owned by the coal company. 3 failed at 8 a.m., releasing millions of gallons of water into Dam No. Residents were just awakening that Saturday morning; some entire families were still in bed. 201 12th StS 3 was rising one or two inches per hour. Robert C. Withers, The Disaster of Buffalo Creek, Report of the West Virginia Adjutant General, Charleston, WV, 1972. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; February 25Because of heavy rains, dam #3 was rising 1-2 inches per hour. Join our new membership program on Patreon today. Specific problems, such as the presence of mine workings near impoundments, are dealt with using sound engineering approaches. United States Army Corps of Engineers. During World War II, almost a half million POWs were interned in the United States, where they forged sympathetic relationships with Black American soldiers. Click for copy. Low 54F. 3 every day. February 1972. dvidovich@hdmediallc.com, House passes religious freedoms bill after attempts to amend fail, WV Senate passes bill aimed at strengthening flood resiliency, Blevins resigns as Man mayor; Fekete appointed, Cline's charges referred to Grand Jury; bond reduction request denied, Chapmanville girls beat Liberty Raleigh, Mingo Central to win sectional title, Dwight Williamson: Racism lived in Logan County in the 1950s, and still does, Amid heated exchange, Chapmanville council rescinds $2,000 sports donation, Townsend sworn in to Chapmanville Police Department, Dwight Williamson: Former baseball player from Holden barely remembered today, Two dead after head-on crash on Buffalo Creek, Beckett: City pursuing inspection process for residential electric hookups. Out of the total settlement, Arnold and Porter took a legal fee of $3 million. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; Thats the year we really got cranked up, Harvey said. two telephone books worth of victim statements. Pittston announced in 1999 that it was leaving the coal business. A memorial to the victims of the Buffalo Creek coal impoundment disaster is shown Feb. 22, 2022, in Kistler, W.Va. On Feb. 26, 1972, a makeshift impoundment dam collapsed, sending millions of. president stops any efforts to warn residents and reassures the police that the Buffalo Creek Disaster Gerald M. Stern 3.68 2,196 ratings176 reviews One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris crashing into southern West Virginia's Buffalo Creek hollow. But the water-soaked engine would not start, and as he reached for his wife, the flood just carried her away. Adkins did manage to hold onto one daughter and two sons, but his wife and two other children could not be located. But the disaster will never be forgotten. Children of Disaster: Clinical Observations at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp.306-12. MAN - Monday marked the 46th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood. The current rose so high that it covered telephone poles. More than a dozen homes and hundreds of acres in the down-stream community of Harriman, TN were hit with a gigantic toxic mess. 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.. 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