>>Can the owner of a diner in WV afford it?
Following this logic - why are there no slaves in WV anymore?
WV has also used this same argument justifying why they couldn't properly handle coal slurry, couldn't make mines safe and needed subsidy for other things to make coal feasible. If we are going to pull people from poverty - it is going to take "financial energy" to overcome the inertia. No one is going to live the high life on $15 / hr. If the diner can't afford it - a federal grant should be made available like it was to the mines. Do the math of $15/hr ($4/hr in 1972 money). Maybe "diner" is a 100 year old format that isn't sustainable. Give them a five year exit plan.
en.wikipedia.org
The Buffalo Creek flood was a disaster that occurred on February 26, 1972, when a coal slurry impoundment dam managed by the Pittston Coal Company and located on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia, burst, four days after having been declared "satisfactory" by a federal mine inspector. [1]
The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132 million US gallons (500,000 cubic metres; 500 million litres) of black waste water, cresting over 30 feet (9.1 m) high, upon the residents of sixteen coal towns along Buffalo Creek Hollow. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. 507 houses were destroyed, in addition to 44 mobile homes and 30 businesses. [1] The disaster destroyed or damaged homes in Saunders, Pardee, Lorado, Craneco, Lundale, Stowe, Crites, Latrobe, Robinette, Amherstdale, Becco, Fanco, Braeholm, Accoville, Crown and Kistler. [2] In its legal filings, Pittston Coal referred to the accident as "an Act of God."
Dam #3, constructed of coarse mining refuse dumped into the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek starting in 1968, failed first, following heavy rains. The water from dam #3 then overwhelmed dams #2 and #1. Dam #3 had been built on top of coal slurry sediment that had collected behind dams #1 and #2, instead of on solid bedrock; it was approximately 260 feet (79 m) above the town of Saunders when it failed.
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