The 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood

In 1945 the Lorado Coal Company, in Lorado County, West Virginia, began a new mine near the town of Saunders. During the mining process, coal waste-material that is dug up but is not coal that can be commercially burned-was dumped into one of three streams, Middle Fork, which flow into Buffalo Creek. This formed what was later referred to Dam 1. In 1966, construction of a second dam, Dam 2, began farther upstream. In 1967, after the Buffalo Mining Company purchased the Lorado Coal Company, a heavy rainfall washed away parts of Dam 2, which was still under construction, and of Dam 1, causing minor flooding. The West Virginia Department of Natural Resources identified a deficiency in Dam 2, which the company corrected. In 1968, a state engineer, following a complaint by a local resident, inspected the dams and questioned the ability of newly installed overflow pipes in Dam 2 to handle excessive runoff. As a result of the citizen’s complaint, it was discovered that neither dam had received proper approval; however, the local prosecutor took no action on the two misdemeanor violations. The West Virginia Department of Natural Resources did, however, require the construction of a third dam, Dam 3. In 1970, the Pittston Coal Company purchased the Buffalo Coal Mining Company and, a year later, completed construction of Dam 3. A year later, Dam 2 failed and was repaired, and a month later Dam 3 failed, but Dam 2 stopped the water, preventing a flood. Even though Pittston was cited for safety violations, there were no follow-up inspections. On February 26, 1972, after a heavy rainfall, Dam 3 collapsed at 8:05 a.m. The rush of water and coal waste also took down Dams 2 and 1. Nearly three hours later, the flood waters traveled 20 miles and in its path left 125 people dead, $50 million in property damage, and approximately 4,000 people homeless.

The Pittston Coal Company immediately distanced itself from responsibility, calling the flood an “Act of God” because God had put the water behind Dam 3, which wasn’t designed to hold it. West Virginia Governor Arch Moore appointed a commission to study the disaster, but the nine members of the commission were either had connections, or were sympathetic, to the coal industry. This, in conjunction with the Governor’s reluctance to place blame on Pittston, lead to a request for Governor Moore to expand on the commission and include others, such as survivors and environmentalists, but he refused to do so. This led to the creation of a citizens’ commission, which, along with a federal and a state commission, came to these conclusion that the company was to blame for blatantly disregarding standard safety practices.

There were no criminal prosecutions because a grand jury failed to return any indictments, even though Pittston apparently violated state and federal laws; however, there were three civil suits. Dennis Prince et al. v. The Pittston Company, a $64 million lawsuit against Pittston, involved 625 adult survivors and family members of victims. Pittston eventually settled for $13,500,000, which was half of its 1972 profits. A second civil case, Justice v. Pittston Company, was filed on behalf of the 348 juvenile survivors and resulted in a $4,800,000 settlement. The third lawsuit, The State of West Virginia v. The Pittston Company, asked for $100,000,000 for punitive damages and cleanup costs; however, in 1977, just three days before he left office, Governor Moore negotiated a $1 million settlement.

Today, the general idea is that improper engineering, insufficient inspections, and improper maintenance resulted in the Buffalo Creek Flood. The safety of coal slurry impoundments remains an issue today (see also Martin County Coal Slurry Spill), because similar spills still occur; though none have been as deadly as the Buffalo Creek flood.