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CHARLESTON -- Companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and managed by his son are being taken to court by the U.S. Department of Justice over unpaid civil penalties and overdue mine reclamation fees.
According to a press release Wednesday morning, the Justice Department is filing a civil case against James C. Justice III, also known as Jay Justice, the governor's son, and 13 companies owned by Gov. Justice and managed by his son.
The Justice Department is seeking $7.6 million in civil penalties and unpaid abandoned mine lands fees, including additional penalties, interest fees and administrative expenses. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, where it will be handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for that district and the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.
"Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities including surface coal mining operations," said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim. "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."
According to the Justice Department, the civil case covers more than 130 violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act between 2018 and 2022, including more than 50 cessation orders issued to Justice-owned coal companies by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The Justice Department also alleges that the Justice-owned companies failed to pay required abandoned mine land fees used to renovate former coal mining properties.
OSMRE issues notices of violation to companies for non-imminently dangerous violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, setting a deadline for companies to correct their violations. If companies fail to make corrections, OSMRE can issue cessation orders to halt mining activities until the company takes corrective actions. If the companies refuse to obey the cessation orders after 30 days, OSMRE can begin issuing civil penalties. Further penalties can be issued to specific company owners and officers of the corporate entity.
"Over a five-year period, defendants engaged in over 130 violations of federal law, thereby posing health and safety risks to the public and the environment," said Christopher R. Kavanaugh, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. "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. 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."
Besides Jay Justice, the companies named in the suit are A and G Coal Corp., Bluestone Coal Corp., Bluestone Oil Corp., Chestnut Land Holdings LLC, Dynamic Energy Inc., Frontier Coal Co., Justice Energy Co., Kentucky Fuel Corp., National Coal LLC, Pay Car Mining Inc., Premium Coal Company Inc., S and H Mining Inc. and Tams Management Inc. A request for comment from a representative of the Justice Companies was not returned Wednesday.
Gov. Justice himself was not named in the civil suit. According to his most recent financial disclosure form with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, Justice owns 111 different companies. Only seven were placed in blind trusts, meaning Justice has no direct stake. The other businesses were put into the hands of his children, with Jay running the coal and agricultural businesses and daughter Jill Justice running the hospitality businesses, including the historic Greenbrier Resort.
Justice, answering a question during Wednesday's virtual administration briefing, said he had no specific details on the federal filing against his son and businesses. Justice has said he does not involve himself with running his businesses despite having personally secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for various Justice-owned businesses since taking office in 2017.
"From the standpoint of having knowledge, real knowledge, of this suit that is filed, I don't have that. I'm sure I'll be briefed by my son as to what is going on to all of that," Justice said. "My son and my daughter and our companies will always fulfill obligations, every single one."
Justice announced at the end of April his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the 2024 Republican primary. While not calling Wednesday's filing a political hit job by the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, Justice alluded that there could be political implications.
"I've announced as a Republican I'm running for the U.S. Senate, and the Biden administration is aware of the fact that with a win for the U.S. Senate, we could flip the Senate," Justice said. "Government agencies sometimes can surely react, and this could be something in regard to that."
This isn't the Justice family's first federal entanglement with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
In 2020, Senior District Judge Glen Conrad issued an order accepting the agreement between 23 Justice-owned companies and Thomas Cullen, the previous U.S. Attorney for the district. According to the agreement, Justice's companies agreed to pay $5.1 million to the U.S. government.
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration brought a lawsuit against the Justice-owned companies in 2019 seeking $4.8 million in unpaid mine safety penalties. Between May 3, 2014, and May 3, 2019, the 23 companies named in the suit were issued 2,297 citations and civil penalties by federal mine inspectors. According to court filings, Justice's companies didn't pay the penalties and didn't provide notice of intent to contest them.
According to the 2020 settlement, the companies made a one-time payment of $212,909.44 and agreed to pay $102,442 per month by the first of every month until the $5.1 million is paid in full. With the March payment, more than $2.4 million has been paid to the federal government. However, the Justice companies keep running into issues with making its monthly installments, owing more than $409,000.
In another federal case last week, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia found Justice's coal mines liable for six years of unpaid health care premiums owed to retired coal miners through a UMWA health plan.
Justice's companies also are dealing with court cases seeking money owed. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia issued writs of execution to the U.S. Marshals Service for Gov. Justice, Jay Justice and two Justice-owned companies seeking $88,866 in attorney fees for a $6.8 million award in favor of Pennsylvania-based Xcoal Energy and Resources.
Virginia-based Carter Bank and Trust filed several court cases over the last few weeks seeking more than $300 million in loans personally guaranteed by Gov. Justice and his family for their businesses. In March, Citizens Bank of West Virginia filed an application for suggestee execution with the Randolph County Circuit Court seeking a garnishment of Justice's salary and wages as governor for $861,085, which includes unpaid interest and costs.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)