WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against 13 coal companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family for unpaid civil penalties and reclamation fee debts.
The complaint was filed May 31 in federal court in Virginia against the companies and James C. “Jay” Justice III, the governor’s son who oversees the family coal interests.
It also names A&G Coal Corp., Bluestone Coal Corp., Bluestone Oil Corp., Chestnut Land Holdings LLC, Dynamic Energy LLC, Frontier Coal Co., Justice Energy Co., Kentucky Fuel Corp., National Coal LLC, Pay Car Mining, Premium Coal Company, S and H Mining and Tams Management.
The filing seeks to collect unpaid civil penalties previously assessed by the Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement as well as Abandoned Mine Land reclamation fee and audit debts.
“Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities including surface coal mining operations,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said. “Through this suit, the Justice Department seeks to deliver accountability for defendants’ repeated violations of the law and to recover the penalties they owe as a result of those violations.”
One U.S. Attorney says the Justice companies engaged in more than 130 violations of federal law over a five-year period, “posing health and safety risks to the public and the environment.”
“After given notice, they then failed to remedy those violations and were ordered over 50 times to cease mining activities until their violations were abated,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia said. “Today, the filing of this complaint continues the process of holding defendants accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of the public and our environment.”
Court filings show that from 2018 to 2022, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement cited the defendants for more than 130 violations and issued the companies more than 50 cessation orders. The underlying violations pose health and safety risks or threaten environmental harm, according to court documents.
In addition, the DOJ says the defendants failed to pay required Abandoned Mine Land fees, which fund the reclamation of coal mining sites abandoned or left in an inadequate reclamation status. According to the filing, the total amount of the penalties and AML fees, plus interest, penalties and administrative expenses, owed by the defendants is approximately $7.6 million.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Krista Consiglio Frith for the Western District of Virginia and Trial Attorneys Sally J. Sullivan and Clare Boronow of the Environment and Natural Resources Division are handling this matter.
Despite promises otherwise, Gov. Justice has not placed most of his family’s holdings in a blind trust, but son Jay and daughter Jill Justice handle the day-to-day operations of the businesses.
On May 31, the governor said he doesn’t have many details about the DOJ lawsuit, which is the latest in a long line of lawsuits and allegations regarding the family’s business dealings. But he said he thinks it’s politically motivated because he is running to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.
“The Biden administration is aware of the fact that with a win for the U.S. Senate, and everything, we could very well flip the Senate,” Justice said, according to MetroNews. “You know, government agencies can sometimes surely react, and this could be something in regard to that.
“But with all that being said — as I’ve said over and over, and you’ve seen it a thousand, million times — when something comes up and someone rears an ugly head, do we run and jump in a hole and die? We don’t do that. You know, my son and my daughter and our companies will always fulfill obligations, every single one, and absolutely at the end of the day have we not done it and done it and done it? …
“At the end of the day we can stand back and throw rocks at Jay and the family and everything, and we’re a big target. I mean, that’s all there is to it. There’s a lot at stake right now. The entire U.S. Senate can be flipped, and that’s what I intend to help make happen.
“With all that being said we’re even a bigger target today. So you’re going to see stuff like this. But at the end of the day I’ll promise you to God above anything about our waters, our environment, in a way, absolutely, our workers, no matter what it may be, we will absolutely take care of it.”
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia case number 7:23-cv-00318
