News and Media

articles | press releases

Articles, radio and film:

• 2008 - Jack Spadaro featured on YouTube:

  "2006 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards" - Award for investigation of the Martin County coal spill. You Tube

  "MSNBC - Utah Mine Disaster." You Tube

  "SLUDGE trailer..." You Tube

• February 27, 2006 - "Who Killed the Miners?" - Who's minding the mines...taking stock of safety in the wake of coal miners' deaths.
  The Nation

• November 01, 2005 - "The Spadaro Documentary Award" - The Spadaro Award is given annually for the best documentary on Appalachia given by the Appalachian Studies Association. The award recognizes the producer for outstanding work in film, video, television, or radio. Technical and Submission Requirements. Make nominations to:
  Appalachian Studies Association

• September 21, 2005 - "Reckless disregard: Settlement doesn't clear coal firm, MSHA" - It was probably the last chance to hold anyone accountable for the massive coal waste spill that fouled 100 miles of Eastern Kentucky waterways.
  Lexington Herald-Leader

• June 13, 2005 - "Films trace electricity to its origin...festival delves into price of coal mining" - Kentuckians often are told they enjoy cheap electricity thanks to the state's coal mines, but not everyone agrees the true cost of that energy is disclosed in monthly utility bills.
  Lexington Herald-Leader

• April 26, 2005 - "Minding the mountains" - Recently in the Forum, a whistleblower hero named Jack Spadaro wrote about the dangers facing one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world -- Central Appalachia's mountains.
  Courier-Journal, Louisville KY

• February 2005 - "Sludge" - 55 mins. 2005 Appalshop
  Review by Steve Fesenmaier, Research Librarian, West Virginia Library Commission [Bibliographies: New and Once Lost Films on West Virginia and Appalachia]

  A documentary about the effects of the Martin County sludge flood in 2000, releasing 10 times more effluent into the environment than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The film focuses on the reactions of Martin County residents and Jack Spadaro, the long-time mine safety engineer who is now under threat from the Bush Administration for refusing to sign the official report on this disaster. Spadaro is a native West Virginian, working for more than 30 years on coal mine safety in West Virginia, most recently as director of the Mine and Health Safety Academy in Beckley, beginning his career as a mining engineer looking at the Buffalo Creek Disaster.
  Appalshop

• January 02, 2005 - "Under Mined" - When a flood of toxic mining sludge wreaked havoc in Appalachia, how did the White House respond? By letting the coal company off the hook and firing the whistleblower.
  Washington Monthly

• April 04, 2004 - "A Toxic Cover-Up?" - "I had never seen anything so corrupt and lawless in my entire career as what I saw regarding interference with a federal investigation of the most serious environmental disaster in the history of the Eastern United States," says Spadaro.
  CBS News - 60 Minutes

• Air Date: November 14, 2003 - Whistleblower Faces the Ax" [11 minute MP3 audio file]. Jack Spadaro, the superintendent of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in West Virginia, is about to lose his job. That's because he spoke out against federal and industry failures connected to the investigation of one of the largest environmental accidents in Appalachia - the 2000 coal slurry spill along the Kentucky/West Virginia border. Guest host Bruce Gellerman talks with Jack Spadaro about what went wrong with the investigation and the charges against him.
  Living on Earth

• November 13, 2003 - "Dirty Business" - How Bush and his coal industry cronies are covering up one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
  Salon.com

• October 12, 2003 - "Tale of sludge spill still untold - Too many questions, no accountability" - The disaster was predictable and avoidable. Yet, three years later, no one has been held accountable. No coal company executives have been called to the witness stand. No government official has owned up to a single mistake.
  Lexington Herald-Leader

• September 09, 2003 - "Mine Safety Official Critical of Policies Faces Firing"
  New York Times

---> fair use notice

Jack Spadaro being interviewed prior to receiving the 2004 Chuck Chambers Public Service Award