HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 16
(By Delegates Hrutkay, Dempsey, Butcher and Ferrell)
[Introduced February 4, 2002; referred to the
Committee on Rules.]
Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Buffalo Creek
disaster and the people who passed that tragic day in West
Virginia history.
Whereas, On Saturday, the twenty-sixth day of February, one
thousand nine hundred seventy two, at eight o'clock a.m., a massive
coal-waste refuse pile, owned by Buffalo Creek Mining Company, a
subsidiary of Pittston Coal Company, collapsed without warning to
the residents of Buffalo Creek Valley in Logan County, West
Virginia; and
Whereas, The collapsed dam sent a twenty to thirty foot high
tidal wave measuring five hundred fifty feet across with
approximately one hundred thirty-five million gallons of water,
coal, mud and sludge careening fifteen miles down Buffalo Creek in
Middle Fork Hollow devastating sixteen communities; and
Whereas, The disaster claimed one hundred twenty-five men,
women and children, injuring more than a thousand, leaving four thousand homeless, destroying over five hundred homes, severely
damaging another nine hundred homes and wiping out countless
vehicles, bridges, roads and all public services; and
Whereas, The Buffalo Creek disaster still affects hundreds of
families in the Buffalo Creek area and throughout the State of West
Virginia who lost loved ones or who had otherwise experienced this
tragic day; and
Whereas, The people of Appalachia have faced adversity before,
and that is when they are at their best, they stand up, band
together and push forward, regardless of the obstacles they face;
and
Whereas, That is exactly what the vast majority of the people
of Buffalo Creek did, they stayed to rebuild the community and to
raise their families when they could have fled the area; and
Whereas, The people of West Virginia desire to ensure that such
a horrific disaster never again occurs; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of
the Buffalo Creek disaster that occurred on the twenty-sixth day of
February, one thousand nine hundred seventy-two, and the one
hundred twenty-five men, women and children who passed, and the
members hereby honor the families that lost loved ones and the many hundreds of people that have been greatly affected by this tragic
day in West Virginia history taking notice of the undaunted courage
that the people of Buffalo Creek and Appalachia possess.
.