buffalo creek case study

The Tragedy at Buffalo Creek

The historic Buffalo Creek flood tore through a region often exploited by industry—and stereotyped by outsiders.

On the morning of February 26, 1972, the failure of three coal slurry dams let loose a tidal wave of destruction upon the Buffalo Creek hollow in Logan county, West Virginia. With little warning to residents, more than 130 million gallons of dark floodwaters tore through more than a dozen communities in the hollow. By the day’s end, hundreds of homes and vehicles were destroyed, thousands were left homeless, and 125 men, women, and children were dead. The flood, known as the Buffalo Creek disaster , is considered one of the worst disasters in both American and Mountain State history.

“The only warning we had was just a neighbor woman had spotted it and just pulled in front of our house and hollered, ‘Run, the dam has broke!’” remembered survivor Shirley Marcum . “And then you could hear the roar of it and… you could see it. I saw my neighbors’ houses leave. I watched them crumble. I seen trees, logs, cars, slate, slush, you name it and it was in that.”

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Mannix Porterfield, a reporter who covered the events of that tragic day, later recalled the destruction left in the flood’s wake. In a 2012 interview , Porterfield said:

[I]t looked like a battlefield. As if some foreign enemy had flown in and nuked the place. Debris was everywhere. Bridges were smashed to bits. Homes were left in splinters… Railroad tracks… yanked up and twisted. They looked like huge metallic pretzels.

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 O’Hara stands astonished looking upon a sea of battlefield casualties.

“One thing that really impressed me, though, was there was no immediate display of emotion,” Porterfield said, remembering the survivors. “They just had this blank stare of resignation… One of my co-workers said people in those coal communities are used to being battered by this and that. They are used to hard times. 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. In reaction to the flood, Hechler said: “The people are prisoners of the coal industry.”

Hechler’s quote is included in the media theorist Rita Colistra’s article in the Journal of Appalachian Studies , which also includes a quote from Ralph Nader. 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.”

A close look at Buffalo Creek illuminates the region’s ties to coal. Scholarship on the disaster also helps us get to know the people—the victims, the survivors—involved. So often, these people are defined by misguided Appalachian stereotypes.

It wasn’t long after the flood that lawsuits were brought against Pittston Coal, the company responsible for the slurry dams. One lawsuit was filed by the state of West Virginia, while another class action lawsuit was filed by survivors of the flood. The sociologist Kai Erikson was brought in for the latter suit as an expert witness on behalf of the survivors. He relied on depositions and additional interviews he conducted to write Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood . For many, Erikson’s book became a definitive take on Buffalo Creek, as well as Appalachian culture as a whole.

Erikson’s book was a finalist for the National Book Award the year of its release . It “should be widely read,” states a 1978 review in the Journal of American Studies :

In all its aspects—the survivors’ description of the flood and its consequences, the contribution which it makes to an understanding of Appalachian life and to the study of disasters, and its theoretical suggestiveness—it is outstanding.

Still highly regarded today, a 2011 paper in the Asian Journal of Social Science refers to Erikson’s book as “a classic piece on the sociological study of post-disaster societies.”

Some, however, have taken issue with Erikson’s work and, on a larger scale, with outsiders’ views of Appalachia. Erikson, a Yale professor when he arrived in Buffalo Creek, is one such outsider, having no connection to the region until he was brought in as an expert witness. In “Buffalo Creek Revisited: Deconstructing Kai Erikson’s Stereotypes,” the sociologists Lynda Ann Ewen and Julia A. Lewis write: “Erikson’s conclusions about the people of Appalachia have… along with studies of snake handlers, come to define what students who study sociology know about… all of Appalachia.” They assert that Erikson validates “the national perceptions of Appalachians as peculiar, isolated, and backward” and that “ Everything in Its Path has become a part of the social construction of the modern stereotype of Appalachia.”

Ewen and Lewis highlight dozens of statements from Erikson’s book that demonstrate, they believe, his reinforcement of stereotypes and his “blaming the victim” mentality toward the residents of Buffalo Creek. “The people of Appalachia seem to be forever poised at some vague mid-point between ability and disability,” is one such Erikson statement. “…[I]n true Appalachian fashion, few people are ready to accept the responsibility of leadership” is another.

To counter Erikson’s claims, Ewen and Lewis include survivor testimony that he neglected. They relate the story of a group of survivors who formed their own support group without outside help. “[W]e decided we would band together and hope it would relieve our tensions and fears,” stated one member of the group. Ewen and Lewis also include the story of another survivor who spent five months rebuilding his damaged home rather than letting authorities tear it down (it had been deemed to be damaged beyond repair).

“The fact that the plaintiffs were involved in a lawsuit against Pittston instead of passively accepting their fate was alone evidence of their ability to cope,” Ewen and Lewis write, essentially arguing that Everything in Its Path is myopic in its attention on the community’s destruction. Although influential, the book overlooks the impressive resiliency and advocacy demonstrated by many survivors within the community.

It’s worth noting that, following Buffalo Creek, two commissions were launched. The first was an ad hoc commission established by West Virginia Governor Arch Moore. The commission consisted of nine men with ties to the coal industry—or a vested interest in proving that Pittston Coal and state regulating agencies were not responsible. The second commission, the Citizens’ Commission, was established to counter this bias. The Citizens’ Commission found Pittston Coal reckless and negligent and the state negligent in ensuring safety compliance. Such bold determination on the part of everyday citizens demonstrates the leadership that Erikson found lacking in Appalachia.

Stephen Young, a Marshall University professor and criminologist, recently wrote an article focused on the 2014 Elk River chemical spill , which left 300,000 West Virginians without clean water. Young ranks the spill as but one more state crime in a long list of state crimes, a list on which Buffalo Creek is also included. “Mining industry-related incidents are a longstanding reality for the residents of West Virginia,” Young writes, echoing the sentiments Ralph Nader expressed decades earlier.

Young details the harm of negative Appalachian stereotypes. He argues that stereotypes—particularly the “white trash” stereotypes depicting Appalachians as lazy, ignorant, and hopeless—allow for the continued exploitation of Appalachia by industry. As an article in Vox noted , this kind of stereotyping is on full display in the popular book and film Hillbilly Elegy. Young draws parallels between Appalachia and the colonialist exploitation of Third World countries, as well as the exploitation of communities of color, such as Flint, Michigan. For outsiders, these stereotypes dehumanize the exploited individuals. For the individuals being stereotyped, it can lead to internalization. If a person is so often treated as trash, they may come to believe they are nothing but trash. According to Young, Appalachia is “a region discarded as an expendable population.” But exploring how these negative stereotypes promote such attitudes “can sharpen our understanding and ability to fight the treatment of all current and future oppressed groups.”

The outcome of the lawsuits surrounding Buffalo Creek go far in demonstrating the power divide between the haves and the have-nots in Appalachia. “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. For those sympathetic to the survivors, Rabin’s statement rings true. 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. 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. The governor’s acquiescence proved costly for the state, as West Virginia ended up forced to reimburse the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $9 million for recovery work.

No dollar amount could ever erase for the survivors what happened at Buffalo Creek. Tom Breiding, a Pittsburgh singer-songwriter with West Virginia roots, saw this firsthand when he traveled to Buffalo Creek for research while composing his 2008 album The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields . “Somewhere down in this valley I was born,” Breiding sings on the album, adopting the persona of a fourth-generation coal miner who never left home. “No silver spoon, no silver cup.”

While visiting Buffalo Creek, Breiding stood at the very spot where the dams had once been. He spoke with residents, including a woman who said she lost eighteen relatives in the flood. The people he encountered, Breiding said, “were thankful that somebody still remembered, because it’s something that has been buried in many people’s memories and buried in the past.” As William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun : “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

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).

A Buffalo Creek native, Victor M. Depta , gets at this idea of recurring tragedy in a 1973 poem, written not long after the flood. Depta recalls the trailers brought in by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to set up temporary living for the newly homeless. His words paint a picture of a bleak future for a people suffering from a cyclical system of abuse. It wasn’t if Buffalo Creek would ever happen again, but when. Depta writes:

They’re bringing in trailers so the next time there’s a flood the people will already have their coffins with little windows and doors and a small latch on the front to drag them to paradise california.

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1904  The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad completed its Charleston, W.Va., to Logan, W.Va., line making Logan County’s coal easily transportable to national markets.

1912  The C&O Railroad build the first spur line by Buffalo Creek. The first coal camps at Buffalo Creek were built.

1924  Crane Creek flood (Mercer County, WV), refuse pile blocking a waterway gave way, killing eight people. Published opinion, Am. Coal Co. v. De Wese, 30 F.3d 349 (4th Cir. 1929).

1942  Buchanan County coal refuse pile explosion covered the railroad tracks and highway, demolished seven houses, killed six people, and injured four.

1945  The Lorado Coal Company opened a coal mine at Buffalo Creek and began dumping coal refuse into the mouth of Middle Fork hollow.

1946  The Buffalo Creek Company purchased the Lorado Coal Company.

1948  US Department of Interior published an information circular, “Burning Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines,” discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams.

1955  (March) Pittston coal refuse dam broke at Lick Fork, Virginia. Pittston settled a lawsuit over this breakdown

June 12, 1964  Buffalo Mining Company (“BMC”) incorporated.

1966  A United Kingdom coal-waste dump in South Aberfam, Wales similar to the one at Buffalo Creek collapses, killing 147 people. A U.S. Geological Survey geologist inspects the Buffalo Creek dam and concludes that it was basically “unstable” and that “the bank [was] subject to large wash-out on [the] north side from [any] overflow from the lake.”

1967  The U.S. Department of Interior releases its Report on Condition of 38 West Virginia Coal Waste Dams warning about Aberfam. Buffalo Mining Company’s (“BMC’s”) dam #1 fails causes a steam explosion and damaging the Saunders community right below the dam. BMC then build’s dam #2.

March 11, 1967  Pittston’s Dola, W.Va., dam failed and a massive flood ensued. Pittston settled all property damage claims.

February 5, 1968  Buffalo Creek resident wrote the Governor of West Virginia about her fears that the dam would collapse. Public Service Commission and Water Resources Division inspectors checked the dams but nothing happened.

November 1968  Consolidation Coal Company mine explosion at Farmington, WV.

1969  Congress enacted the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. BMC feared the increased regulation cost might bankrupt it and became open to buyout.

1970  Dam #3 is completed.

1970  Pittston’s London insurance underwriters inquired about all of its dams. Pittston failed to obtain an “independent engineering opinion” on the Buffalo Creek dams.

July 14, 1970  West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (WVDNR) Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report.

December 1970  Pittston employee drafts memorandum warning that federal regulations “‘forbid the closing off of any stream or the impoundment of water’ by refuse-pile dams.” He is forbidden from distributing the memorandum.

January 1, 1971  Pittston’s umbrella insurance underwriters imposed a $1 million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure.

February 1971  Dam #3 collapsed. Half of its downstream side slumped but there wasn’t any flood. BMC filled the hole with more coal refuse.

April 16, 1971  WVDNR Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report.

May 1, 1971  Pittston acquired BMC and assumed sole management of BMC.

June 2, 1971  BMC’s vice president asked Pittston’s legal counsel about a federal safety standard prohibiting refuse piles from impeding drainage or impounding water.

July 1971  Pittston’s vice-president of industrial engineering and training received English National Coal Board’s booklet Spoil Heaps and Lagoons warning about future Aberfan disasters.

August 16, 1971  WVDNR Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report.

October 8, 1971  Pittston promised WVDNR to install an emergency spillway on Dam #3.

December 17, 1971  WVDNR Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report.

1972  About 5,000 people lived in the Buffalo Creek holler including 1,000 miners.

February 22  A federal mine inspector and BMC safety engineer find dam #3 satisfactory.

February 25  Because of heavy rains, dam #3 was rising 1-2 inches per hour.

February 26

• 1:30 a.m., dam #3’s water was only one foot below the dam’s crest. BMC’s vice president stops any efforts to warn residents and reassures the police that the dam will hold.
• 8:03 a.m., dam #3 failed and carried away dams #1 and #2. The wall of water exploded the burning refuse pile before wiping out the Buffalo Creek valley.

February 28  Pittston employee distributes warning memorandum previously forbidden in December 1970.

March 1972  Arnold & Porter agreed to represent the Buffalo Creek Citizens Committee in a lawsuit against Pittston.

March 21, 1972  Pittston’s board of directors authorized BMCto establish a claims office in Buffalo Creek.Pittston moved for summary judgment because Pittston is not a proper party, to strike certain allegations in the complaint, and in the alternative for a more definite statement as to plaintiffs’ states of citizenship and damage claims.

March 28  Pittston press release stating that it had opened offices to process loss claims without admitting any responsibility.

• Kanawha County Bar Association voted to investigate Arnold & Porter’s “alleged solicitation of legal business.” It later concluded that there was no impropriety.
• Stern and Staker begin discussing settlement.

March 31  In an SEC filing, Pittston stated that it believed that the “ultimate effect of [any] claims [related to the Buffalo Creek disaster] should not be material in relation to [Pittston’s] consolidated financial position.”

April  Over 1,000 residents registered claims with Pittston. At that time, Pittston had made only one payment for $4,000.

May  A group of Buffalo Creek disaster survivors traveled to Pittston’s annual stockholders meeting in Richmond, Va., to petition for fair restitution. The survivors were not allowed to address the meeting. During the meeting, the Field Foundation proposed a resolution that Pittston should spend more money to protect miners and their families. This resolution was passed “in spirit only.” A motion to make the resolution binding on Pittston management was defeated by a vote of 12 million  shares to 1,217 shares.

August 8, 1972  Congress passed the National Dam Inspection Act. Subsequent problems with implementation.

September 2, 1972  West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry into the Buffalo Creek Flood released its report.The Commission concluded after eight public hearings, 91 witnesses, and 2,000 pages of transcript that Pittston “has shown flagrant disregard for the safety of residents of Buffalo Creek and other persons who live near coal-refuse impoundments.”

• Arnold and Porter noticed Pittston’s president and vice-president’s depositions and submitted other discovery requests to Pittston.
• Judge Christie, the federal district judge originally assigned to the case, removes himself from the case because of his friendship with Pittston’s president. The case is assigned to Judge K.K. Hall.
• Stern meets with Pittston’s counsel concerning settlement.
• Pittston filed a lengthy memorandum setting forth new facts and arguments to support its motion to dismiss.

November  Special grand jury led by two special prosecuting attorneys (including WVU College of Law Dean Willard Lorensen) brings no criminal indictments against Pittston.

March 2, 1973  Judge Hall holds hearing on Pittston’s motion to dismiss and denies the motion for the time being while plaintiffs obtain full discovery. Judge Hall suggests selecting 4-5 sample cases on the question of liability.

April 16, 1973  Plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint to add additional plaintiffs. Plaintiffs filed their more definite statement of their damage claims. As part of its more definite statement, Arnold & Porter filed with the court two telephone books worth of victim statements.

• Pittston objected to Arnold & Porter’s more definite statement, asking the Court to make the plaintiffs state their dollar damage claims with more particularity.
• Arnold & Porter’s medical and psychological experts started interviewing and examining the plaintiffs. The experts concluded that the victims suffered from “survivor syndrome,” what is known today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”).
• Stern asked Judge Hall to help him get access to the West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry into the Buffalo Creek Flood’s documents. Hall agreed and the documents were provided to Stern.
• Judge Hall ruled that the plaintiff’s survivor-syndrome claims might exceed $10,000 (the diversity amount-in-controversy amount at the time). Hall also asked Pittston to let the plaintiffs see Pittston’s insurance documents and refused to keep discovery confidential.
• Pittston’s Oil Division applied to Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection for authority to build a $350 million oil refinery and tanker terminal.

July 5, 1973  Judge Hall granted plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint. Arnold & Porter amended their complaint to add almost 200 more plaintiffs, bringing the total to 625, and $64 million in damages.

September 5, 1973  Hearing

October 5, 1973  Plaintiffs filed supplemental more definite statement of their damage claims.

• State of West Virginia sued Pittston in both state and federal court for the state’s damaged and destroyed bridges, roads, and schools for $50 million compensatory and $50 million punitive damages.
• Justice v. Pittston class action by now-Judge Phillip Gaujot on behalf of 348 children not in the Prince lawsuit filed in federal district court.
• The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs.
• Stern met with plaintiffs and obtained settlement authority.
• Arnold and Porter gave Pittston a $32.5 million written settlement proposal.

April 1, 1974  Pittston moved to dismiss absent plaintiffs, plaintiffs claiming psychic injury while they were physically away from Buffalo Creek during the flood.

April 30, 1974  Plaintiffs amended their complaint

May 1, 1974  Discovery deadline. Fact stipulations, exhibit lists, and pretrial motions due.

May 13, 1974  Judge Hall denied motion for partial summary judgment as to personal injury claims of 33 plaintiffs, published 63 F.R.D. 28 (S.D. W. Va. 1974).

June 4, 1974  Proposed representative plaintiff lists from both sides due. Pittston’s list is late.

June 7, 1974  Judge Hall declined to act on Pittston’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ demand for injunctive relief and to strike certain allegations in the complaint and made decisions on future trial structure.

June 15, 1974  Trial briefs due.

June 26, 1974  The plaintiffs and Pittston settle for $13.5 million.

July 3, 1974  Plaintiffs/Pittston $13.5 million settlement agreement filed with the court

July 15, 1974  The scheduled trial date.

August 1, 1974  Final proceedings.

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The Buffalo Creek disaster : the story of the survivors' unprecedented lawsuit

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BUFFALO CREEK DISASTER

The following books and articles relating to the Buffalo Creek Flood can be found at the Archives and History Library.

Bethell, Thomas N. and McAteer, Davitt. The Pittson Mentality: Manslaughter on Buffalo Creek , Huntington, West Virginia, Appalachian Movement Press, 1972. 627.4 B562p Pam.

Citizens' Commission to Investigate the Buffalo Creek Disaster. Disaster on Buffalo Creek, 1972 Report of the Citizens' Commission Investigation , s. l., n. p. Citizens' Commission, 1972. 627.4 C49 Pam.

Davies, William E., Bailey, James F., Kelly, Donovan B. West Virginia's Buffalo Creek Flood: A Study of the Hydrology and Engineering Geology , Washington, DC, 1972. 627.4 D28

Erikson, Kai T. Everything in its Path; Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood , New York, Simon and Schuster, 1976. 363 E68

Nugent, Tom. Death at Buffalo Creek; the 1972 West Virginia Flood Disaster , New York, Norton, 1973. 627.4 N89

Stern, Gerald M. The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors' Unprecedented Lawsuit , New York, Random House, 1976. 344.754 S839

United States Army Corps of Engineers. Buffalo Creek WV Disaster, 1972 . Prepared for the Subcommittee on Labor or the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate. Washington DC, US Government Printing Office, 1972. 627.4 U58b

United States Department of Interior. Preliminary Analysis of the Coal Refuse Dam Failure at Saunders, West Virginia, February 26, 1972 . Task Force to Study Coal Waste Hazards, Washington DC, 1972. 627.4 U58p

West Virginia. Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster; Official Report . Charleston, West Virginia, 1973. Gov 1. Buf 1. 1:1972

West Virginia. Governors Office of Federal/State Relations. Environmental Impact Statement for the Buffalo Valley Redevelopment Plan . Prepared by Environmental Impact Statement Work Group for Buffalo Valley Redevelopment, Charleston, West Virginia, 1973. Gov 1. Buf 2. 1:1973

"$1, 000, 001 Settlement in Flood Suit," Charleston Gazette , 11-15-1977. "A Town Stood Here," Life Magazine , 10-10-1972. "A Look Back 25 Years-Remembering Buffalo Creek," Register-Herald , 2-16-1997. "After Buffalo Creek, Bureaucracy of Disasters," The Nation , 6-18-1973. "After the Dam Broke, Cries for Control," Business Week , 3-11-1972. "After the Flood," By Mary Walton, Harper's Magazine , 3-1973. "Aftermath of Disaster: The Buffalo Creek Syndrome," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 12-12- 1976. "All Were Friends, All Died in the Buffalo Creek Flood," Bluefield Daily Telegraph , 2-26- 1997. "An Analysis Buffalo Creek Tragedy Continues," Logan News , 2-21-1975. "Buffalo Creek Revisited," Herald-Advertiser , 2-25-1973. "Buffalo Creek: First Anniversary of a Disaster," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 2-25-1973. "Buffalo Creek 5 Years Later," Bluefield Daily Telegraph , 2-13-1977. "Buffalo Creek Cost State $742,250.34," Charleston Gazette , 3-3-1973. "Buffalo Creek Disaster, A Special Report," Logan Banner , 2-26-1987. "Buffalo Creek Aftermath," Saturday Review , 8-26-1972. "Buffalo Creek Litany: Wisdom of Man Failed," Charleston Gazette , 2-26-1973. "Buffalo Creek Flood Victims Still Unhappy," News-Tribune , 11-4-1975. "Buffalo Creek Voters Reject Incorporation," Charleston Gazette , 3-15-1978. "Buffalo Creek: It's Been a Year and We're Still Looking at Nothin," United Mine Workers Journal , 3-15-1973. "Buffalo Flood Unforgettable...," Williamson Daily News , 3-31-1997. "Buffalo Creek Wins Battle to be a City," Charleston Gazette , 12-21-1977. "Buffalo Survivor Nearly Lost Her Life," Williamson Daily News , 3-31-1997. "Buffalo Creek: Changes Lie Just Below the Surface," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 3-2- 1997. "Buffalo Dam Not Engineered or Built for Safety, Report Indicates," Charleston Gazette , 3-9- 1973. "Buffalo Creek: One Year Later Tears Still Flow," Logan News , 3-2-1973. "Buffalo Valley Newsletter," Volume 1:1-2 1972. "Buffalo Creek Lawsuit Settled," Logan Banner , 7-12-1974. "Buffalo Creek Father Positive Missing Son Still Alive," Bluefield Daily Telegraph , 30-11- 1973. "Buffalo Creek Flood...," Logan Banner , 2-26-1995. "Buffalo Creek: It Sure Don't Look Like Home," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 2-24-1974. "Buffalo Creek Settlement Reached," Charleston Gazette , 12-10-1988. "Changes Due in Buffalo Creek," Charleston Daily Mail , 12-27-1972. "Charleston Lawyer Named to Prosecute Civil Suit Related to Buffalo Flood," Logan Banner , 12-13-1973. "Coal Company Blameless for Logan Disaster, Says Special Grand Jury," Grafton Daily Sentinel , 11-16-1972. "Death in Buffalo Hollow," Newsweek , 3-13-1972. "Disaster in the Hollow," Time , 3-13-1972. "Engineers Say Buffalo Dam Doomed at Start," Logan Banner , 5-30-1972. "Family Loss Still Lives in Mother's Memory," Charleston Gazette , 2-26-1982. "Fear, Guilt Feelings Plague Buffalo Creek Flood Victims," Herald-Dispatch , 10-11- 1976. "Flooding Back, Buffalo Creek Disaster Still Painful 25 Years Later," Times-West Virginian , 2-23-1997. "From God, No Comment," New York Times , 3-5-1972. "High Water, 25 Years Later...," Register-Herald , 2-16-1997. "I've Killed the Whole Valley," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 3-14-1999. "Killer Flood's Echoes Still Heard," Charleston Gazette-Mail , 2-23-1992. "Minds Can't Forget Buffalo Creek Dam," Charleston Gazette , 5-13-1973. "Miners Cling to Homes That Are Left After Flood," New York Times , 3-1-1972. "Murder in Appalachian," The Nation , 3-20-1972. "No Rent Will Be Charged on Buffalo Creek Until June," Logan News , 2-3-1973. "Records of Buffalo Creek Disaster Donated to Logan Campus of SWVCC," Logan Banner , 4-30-1974. "Remembering the Buffalo Creek Disaster at Man," Welch Daily News , 2-25-2000. "Remembering the Disaster Many Would Like to Forget," Williamson Daily News , 2-24- 1997. "Remembering Buffalo Creek," Bluefield Daily Telegraph , 2-23-1997. "Rents in Buffalo Creek begin June 1," Charleston Gazette , 4-8-1973. "Residents Recall Buffalo Creek Flood That Happened 23 Years Ago," Williamson Daily News , 3-16-1995. "Scars Still Remain of Buffalo Creek Flood," News-Tribune , 2-26-1976. "Ten Years After the Flood Life in Buffalo Creek Feels the Same," Herald-Advertiser , 2-24- 1974. "The Day the Dam Broke," Logan Banner , 2-25, 26-1996. "Time Has Not Erased Shock of Buffalo Creek Disaster," Logan Banner , 2-26-1973. "Up Buffalo Creek Hollow, the Struggle to Rebuild Goes On," Charleston Daily Mail , 12-27- 1972. "Valley Looks Different...But the Scars Remain Unhealed," Dominion Post , 3-4-1973. "World Changed in Buffalo Creek When Dam Burst," Dominion Post , 2-21-1982.

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2nd suspect identified in murder of 16-year-old girl more than 50 years ago: authorities

by JESSICA A. BOTELHO | The National Desk

A second suspect was identified in connection to the murder of a 16-year-old high school student from Maryland who went missing more than 50 years ago, according to authorities.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department on Monday announced Donald Willard as the second suspect in the death of Pamela Lynn Conyers.

The news comes about a year after authorities identified the first suspect as Forrest Clyde Williams III.

The men are both dead, said police, with Willard dying in 2010, and Williams dying in 2018.

Forrest Clyde Williams III

Donald willard.

Even though both suspects passed away, police said they are still working to piece together what led up to Conyers' murder. They also are investigating if the suspects are connected to other crimes.

It's not too late to come forward with information," Justin Mulcahy, who is a spokesman for Anne Arundel police said during a news conference.

Police said Conyers attended a bonfire and pep rally at Glen Burnie High School before driving to Harundale Mall. She returned home before leaving to run an errand for her mother in their family car on Oct 16, 1970.

"That would be the last known sighting of Pam," Mulcahy said, with her parents filing a missing persons report.

Four days later, he said, her body was found near her abandoned car. He said an autopsy was performed, with medical examiners ruling she was strangled to death. She was also sexually assaulted.

Police said DNA was found at the scene. More than 50 years later, the suspects were identified based on advanced technology and the use of Forensic Genetic Genealogy.

If the suspects were still alive, said police, they would be facing murder charges. The investigation is ongoing in hopes of learning more about the case.

"Pam still deserves all of our best efforts to learn what happened to her," FBI Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said.

Anyone who has information about the case or suspects is urged to contact the Anne Arundel County Police Department at 410-222-4731. Callers may remain anonymous and call the TipLine at 410-222-4700.

Making Green Cities pp 401–422 Cite as

Urban Greening as a Response to Societal Challenges. Toward Biophilic Megacities (Case Studies of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia)

• Diana Dushkova 8 ,
• Maria Ignatieva 9 &
• Irina Melnichuk 10  
• First Online: 17 March 2023

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Part of the book series: Cities and Nature ((CITIES))

The population density in megacities is continuously increasing, resulting in a reduction of green spaces and a deterioration in the urban environment quality. Urban green is often being replaced by parking places, shopping centers, and service enterprises. This chapter examines the efforts of two megacities in Russia—Moscow and Saint Petersburg—to organize sustainable greening solutions for their residential areas using new achievements in landscape design theory and practice, such as the concept of the biophilic city. The chapter analyzes the history of greening strategies and discusses the concept of urban green infrastructure and its implementation in both Russian megacities. The chapter presents an assessment of the current state of urban green spaces and the most recent master plans and how these cities are facing and responding to modern societal challenges. The results of an analytical review of the most successful urban greening projects in Moscow and Saint Petersburg are presented as well. The economic and climatic features of the urban green areas and their architectural and planning features are considered, along with strategies for further development of the urban green spaces in both cities, aiming to address the new principles of biophilic cities.

• Urban green spaces
• Greening strategies
• Biophilic cities
• Societal challenges
• Saint Petersburg

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) project “Mathematical-cartographic assessment of medico-ecological situation in cities of European Russia for their integrated ecological characteristics” (2018–2020) under Grant number No 18-05-406 00236/18 and by the Horizon 2020 Framework Program of the European Union project “Connecting Nature” under Grant Agreement No 730222.

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Department Urban and Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, Leipzig, 04318, Germany

Diana Dushkova

School of Design, University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway 35, Perth, 6001, Australia

Maria Ignatieva

Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Saint Petersburg State Forest Technical University, Institutskij pereulok 5, St.-Petersburg, 194021, Russia

Irina Melnichuk

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Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

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Landscape Change and Management, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden, Sachsen, Germany

Martina Artmann

Center for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

Cristian Ioja

Department of Geography (Landscape Ecology), Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Salman Qureshi

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Dushkova, D., Ignatieva, M., Melnichuk, I. (2023). Urban Greening as a Response to Societal Challenges. Toward Biophilic Megacities (Case Studies of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia). In: Breuste, J., Artmann, M., Ioja, C., Qureshi, S. (eds) Making Green Cities. Cities and Nature. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73089-5_25

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