W.M. Griffice died from injuries suffered in the explosion of his home above the Oak Grove mine in Alabama. (Courtesy of the Alabama Fire Marshal’s Office)
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OAK GROVE —Lisa Lindsay was surprised.
For months, she had waited for federal authorities to do something—anything—to mitigate the risks of the longwall coal mine expanding beneath her home. Those risks became all too tangible in March when Lindsay felt the shockwaves of an explosion surge through her body.
The blast she felt had leveled her neighbor’s home, leaving a grandfather and his grandson in critical condition. W.M. Griffice would later die from his injuries. A lawsuit filed by his family blames the release of methane gas from Oak Grove Mine for his death.
But since that explosion, Lindsay has lived in constant fear, worried that state and federal officials responsible for regulating mining have largely ignored her complaints about the risks she’s still facing—risks that she believes could leave her family in the same position as the Griffices.