TOPIC
The Scotia Mine Disaster
One of the worse mine disasters in US history took place in Letcher County, Kentucky. On March 9, 1976, an explosion rocked the Scotia Mine in Oven Fork, Ky., killing fifteen miners. Two days later, a second explosion at the mine killed another eleven miners.
In the aftermath, the causes and consequences of the disaster were fought over in Congress, state courts—and the federal courts. At least three federal district judges of the Eastern District Court of Kentucky presided over criminal and civil actions against Scotia Coal Company and its parent, Blue Diamond. The disaster led to the passage of major new mine safety laws. But the federal court cases took years to resolve, and they came to symbolize the struggles of coal miners in Appalachia.
At approximately 11:45 a.m. on March 9, 1976, an explosion caused by coal dust and gasses blasted through Scotia Mine, killing fifteen miners. As miners and federal safety inspectors headed to the disaster site, a second explosion killed another eleven miners. Investigators believed that the explosions were set off when faulty equipment ignited methane gas that had built up in the poorly ventilated mine.
Three years after the explosions, the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky brought criminal charges against Scotia Coal Co. and its parent, Blue Diamond. In United States v. Blue Diamond and Scotia, federal prosecutors charged the coal companies with, among other things, failing to make regular checks for methane, falsifying ventilation maps, and improper training of miners in safety equipment. By this time, the government and the coal companies were involved in multiple civil suits and countersuits. The criminal suit was one of the last to be initiated. As these notes on motions indicate, the case was still in the pre-trial phase in 1982.
Soon after the explosions, fifteen widows of Scotia miners brought a $60 million lawsuit for negligence against Blue Diamond, named Boggs v. Blue Diamond Coal Co. Eastern District Judge H. David Hermansdorfer presided over the “Scotia Widows Trial” in Pikeville, along with the criminal case brought by the federal government. Judge Hermansdorfer dismissed the suit, holding that the women didn’t have standing to sue. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his decision and sent the case back to him for retrial.
But Hermansdorfer stepped aside from the case. The press and the public had criticized Hermansdorfer’s handling of the lawsuit and accused him of conflicts-of-interest because of his investments in various coal companies. He kept the criminal case against Scotia and Blue Diamond, but the widows’ case was re-assigned to Judge William Bertelsman.
Ultimately, Boggs settled in August 1980 when Blue Diamond agreed to pay the widows $5.5 million.
Six years after the deaths of twenty-six miners, Scotia pleaded guilty to two criminal charges in the courtroom of federal judge G. Wix Unthank. The company also pleaded no contest to three other charges related to the mine explosions. In turn, the US Attorney’s office dropped all other charges and recommended a fine of $80,000, roughly $277,000 in today’s dollars. The amount was about the maximum allowed at the time by mine safety laws.
Days after the US Attorney’s Office submitted its $80,000 fine recommendation, Judge Unthank ordered Scotia to either pay the fine or contribute $60,000 to charitable organizations that had given relief in the aftermath of the disaster. Unthank chose the nonprofits from a list provided by the Eastern District’s Probation Office. The donations marked the end of any criminal penalties against Scotia. Within another two years, Scotia, Blue Diamond, and the federal government would finalize settlements among themselves and with the miners’ families.
On March 9, 2010, a historic marker was erected on U.S. 119 in Oven Fork to honor the men who died in the Scotia mine disaster.
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