tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1602309659761194151.post4666174804535184953..comments2023-09-16T03:32:46.623-05:00Comments on St. Louis Sojourn: Bonne TerreEd Pittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06211860509909900824noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1602309659761194151.post-6234310875689726622009-12-10T05:14:09.916-06:002009-12-10T05:14:09.916-06:00After I posted this story I was reminded by Chris ...After I posted this story I was reminded by Chris Whyland, my old writing partner, that the St. Joe Mineral Corp which formerly operated mines in the north country of New York was the successor in interest to the same St. Joe Lead Company that operated Bonne Terre mine. They operated zinc and lead mines in Balmat and Edwards, NY and a large talc mine in Gouvernour, NY. The problem with the NY mines is that asbestos is a contaminant in the ore, especially in the talc mines. Quite a few years ago a colleague of mine, Ted Oot, resolved to help miners prove in workers' compensation court that the asbestos in talc was making them sick. He appealed a lot of cases and eventually established a new standard for proving occupational disease cases that is still the law. There followed a big class action civil liability case (handled by the Syracuse firm Setright & Ciabotti) involving hundreds of workers that was eventually dismissed because of the different standard of proof in civil cases.<br /><br />The end of St. Joe's involvement in the NY north country came in the 1980s. There was a nasty strike beginning in 1985. Then suddenly St. Joe's ended operations and sold all its mining and smelting operations to ZCA (Zinc Corporation of America), a non-union company, in 1987. More about this strike can be found in a great article in the NY Times.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/30/nyregion/town-tainted-by-bitterness-over-yearlong-mine-strike.htmlEd Pittshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06211860509909900824noreply@blogger.com