• Governor Moore’s Gift

  After the 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster, Gov. Arch Moore's emergency director asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform recovery work at state expense. The Corps repeatedly billed the state $ 3.7 million for this work, but Moore kept the invoices confidential and didn't pay them.

  At the Legislature’s insistence the state sued the Pittston Company for $100 million in damages to state property. Just three days before his term ended in 1977, Gov. Moore signed a settlement, accepting $1 million from Pittston and absolving the firm of further liability. After the Rockefeller administration took office, aides were shocked to discover the bills from the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1989 t he state (i.e. the taxpayers) was forced to pay the federal government $9.5 million in Corps clean-up costs plus accumulated interest.

  In 1972, Arch Moore became the first West Virginia governor to succeed himself since 1872. In 1975, Moore and his campaign manager were indicted for extortion, the first seated governor to be officially charged with a crime. Both were found not guilty. In 1984, Moore became the first governor elected to three four-year terms. In 1988, he was defeated in his re-election bid against Democrat Gaston Caperton. In 1990, Moore was found guilty of mail fraud. He served over two years in federal prison and paid a settlement to the state of $750,000, but this restitution didn't cover the Buffalo Creek costs.

  On the 25 th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek flood, Charleston Gazette Editor James A. Haught looked for answers to three puzzling decisions at the center of the Buffalo Creek disaster and its aftermath – including the Governor’s actions.

Back | Next