Examples of Business Law and Ethics in the Buffalo Creek Disaster

Logan County, West Virginia is home to a small area called the Buffalo Creek Hallow. Numerous towns sprang up over years in this coal rich creek since the boom of the mining industry. The year 1970 saw the most prosperous year for coal, the increased demand attracted new mining companies to set up shop at Buffalo Creek however a flood during a cold winter morning in 1972 changed the lives of the residents forever.

The coal mining history of Buffalo Creek can be traced back all the way to 1940s. At that time, Lorado Coal Mining Company opened Mine No.5 at the almost the top of the Buffalo hallow. The dumping of sludge from this mine was happening at the mouth of the middle fork. It functioned just like a dam and was viewed like one without much thought. When the Buffalo Mining Company took over Lorada, they began dumpling sludge behind the first “dam” at the middle fork stream. In 1967, the old dam proved problematic when it failed however there was no considerable damage. The coal mining company did not take the threat seriously as it continued to pile waste. In 1970, when Pittson coal took over, the danger exponentially increased as a third dam was constructed behind the first two which completely blocked the streams by a network of sledge dams.

In the last week of February 1972, ponds/streams behind the first dam started to rise. These ponds had millions of tons of sludgy material at the bottom that acted as quick sand. The rain and snow pounding along with routinely 500,00 gallons water inflow from the Pittson Coal Company cleansing plant lead a to dramatic increase in water levels. Only on February 25th, officials first questioned the stability of the dams. The dams had no drainage system installed or any pressure release mechanisms. Also, although the state had citied the Pittson Coal Company subsequent to the 1st dam failure, there company had taken to no preventive measures to install an emergency overflow system. As the water levels continued to increase, only actions that were actually taken were potential flooding warnings to limited families in the area, these warnings were not taken seriously as they a common occurrence. Just after Dam No. 3 started to show symptoms of collapsing, the Pittson Company sent a bulldozer to dig a drainage pitch in an attempt to alleviate some pressure.

At 7:45 AM, as the men were doing repair work, water started to flow down the valley. Multiple lives could potentially have been saved if residents of the Buffalo Hallow were informed of the potential disaster and magnitude of its occurrence. The Pittston Coal Company ignored warnings from all major government departments like the mining bureau, the National Guard, the State Police, and even the local sheriff’s office. At 7:59 AM, the dam officially collapsed and lead to major blasts as boiling yellow suffer coal deposits came in contact with rushing water from the stream. At 8:01 AM, a huge outburst of 130 million gallons of water stream swept away the whole Buffalo Creek and drifted along all the coal manufacturing waste with it. This tragedy claimed 123 lives, injured 1000 and also left 4000 people homeless. Alongside these statistics, the disaster left countless scars on the survivors and the citizens of West Virginia. In an attempt to absolve The Pittson Coal Company from any legal responsibility, company officials insisted the flood was “an act of God”. They argued that there absolutely nothing with the dam expect that it could not hold all the water “God poured into it”.

A key concept learnt in class and that is clearly evident in this particular is Negligence - not willful wrong doing, but carelessness that harms others. A person is negligent when s/he acts in a way that falls below the standard of care necessary to protect others from an unreasonable risk of injury. There are 4 elements to proving negligence in this case:

1.Duty: the “standard of care” owed to the plaintiff by the defendant. This is usually the reasonable person standard. In this case, Pittson Coal owed its employees who worked in Buffalo Creek mines a minimum standard of care that ensured safe working conditions protecting them for any injuries during the course of their work.

2.Breach of duty: Once the duty is established, the plaintiff must prove the defendant failed to live up to that duty. In this case, Pittson Coal clearly breached their duty to provide safe working conditions as it failed to address all safety warnings issued from major government departments like the mining bureau, the National Guard, the State Police, and even the local sheriff’s office after the first damn failure to take corrective action.

Also, Pittson Coal failed to obtain a permit to construct their new “third dam” when