Winds of Change Newsletter, February 2006     See sidebar for table of contents

Buffalo Creek: It Should Never Have Happened

by Patty Adkins

The tragedy on Buffalo Creek was years in the making. Pittston Coal Co. began dumping coal waste on the middle fork of Buffalo Creek in 1957. By 1968, the coal company was dumping more waste another 600 feet upstream. By 1972, a third dam was built that ranged from 45-60 feet in height.

The people of Buffalo Creek were aware that these dams existed, and were afraid that they might break. In 1967, the U.S. Department of the Interior warned state officials that the Buffalo Creek dams and 29 others throughout West Virginia were unsafe.

Furthermore, Pittston had a record of mining and safety violations. Still, neither the state nor mining officials made any effort to deal with the problem of the slurry impoundment on Buffalo Creek.

I was 11 years old when the Buffalo Creek disaster occurred. My family lived on Braeholm Hill and we stood there that morning and watched the devastation unfold. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as I watched people in houses and vehicles float by. I remember the sound of the blackwater breaking the houses apart, and seeing animals trying to stay afloat in the raging waters.

And after the water went down, I remember seeing two men pull the dead body of a woman from a house that had been lodged against the train trestle. At the time, I thought it was a terrible natural disaster. It was only as an adult that I realized all those deaths were caused by the negligence of the coal industry.

The survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster have to live with the memories of that day. If state officials had taken heed in 1967 when they were warned of the dangers of these impoundment dams, there wouldn’t be an anniversary of this tragedy on February 26. State officials today should not let history repeat itself.

Remember Buffalo Creek - Monday, Feb. 27  10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Room 252 State Capitol
Tell the Governor and Legislature to Support Sludge Safety

As every West Virginian knows, on February 26, 1972 a coal waste dam in Logan County failed, killing 125 people, and leaving 4,000 homeless.

We must make every effort to protect our citizens from another coal waste impoundment disaster.

At 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 27, please come to Room 252, House side, at the State Capitol. Join members of the Sludge Safety Project in asking the governor and legislators to advance safety legislation that will protect people dealing with coal slurry injections and living in the shadow of coal sludge impoundments. We will show clips of two films on Buffalo Creek, meet residents whose health and safety is compromised by coal sludge, talk with legislators and discuss ways we can make our mining communities safer.

For more info or to carpool, call OVEC at (304) 522-0246, or see www.sludgesafety.org.

Copies of Book, Documentary Available

If you would like to own your own copy of Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, Frog Creek Books inside the Capitol Market in Charleston, carries the book. You can also purchase the documentary through the Appalshop website, www.appalshop.org.