Coal companies owe millions in unpaid fines, fees in Kentucky, other states, complaint says

Coal companies controlled by the son of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice haven’t paid fines for dozens of environmental violations at surface mines and fees to reclaim abandoned mines, including in Kentucky, federal authorities allege.

The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) sued James C. “Jay” Justice III and 13 companies on Wednesday in federal court in Virginia, where the companies are headquartered.

The complaint seeks a total of $4.3 million in fines from the companies; $190,759 for unpaid abandoned mine land fees; and $1.4 million in penalties against Justice personally.

With interest, penalties and fees, the companies and Justice owe a total of $7.6 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Most of that relates to mining activity in other states.

In Kentucky, the lawsuit alleges a Justice company called Kentucky Fuel Corporation didn’t report all the coal it mined and owes $11,759 to the federal government as a result.

The company also didn’t pay OSM all abandoned mine land (AML) fees on coal produced at a surface mine in Pike County at various times in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the complaint alleges.

Coal companies pay a fee to the AML program to reclaim mined land that was abandoned without being properly graded and seeded to control erosion and other environmental problems.

Kentucky Fuel owes $19,666 in unpaid AML fees, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, regulators issued notices of more than 130 alleged environmental and reclamation violations over the last five years at the 13 Justice companies.

The violations included failing to control erosion and failing to maintain ponds designed to keep sediment from a mine from clogging up streams.

More than 50 times, authorities had to follow up and order Justice companies to stop mining until they fixed the violations, according to the lawsuit.

“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,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in a news release. “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.”

An attorney in West Virginia who has represented Justice was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning.

However, Gov. Justice, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said the lawsuit could be politically motivated, according to an account in The Hill.

“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 . . . government agencies can sometimes surely react, and this could be something in regard to that,” Justice reportedly said.

Justice was elected governor as a Democrat but switched his party registration to Republican.

He is trying to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat. The race could determine control of the Senate, where Democrats hold a very narrow margin.

Jim and Jay Justice and family companies have faced earlier complaints in Kentucky and elsewhere of not fixing violations at their surface mines and of not paying property taxes and vendors.

Justice-family companies agreed to resolve large property-tax delinquencies in several Eastern Kentucky counties in 2019.

In Nov. 2021, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas D. Wingate ruled that Kentucky mining regulators could collect a $2.9 million penalty from Jim and Jay Justice because they had not fully completed reclamation work required under an earlier deal.

Court records indicate an appeal is pending in that case.

Earlier this year, a Justice company agreed to reclaim a mine in Virginia that had long been a massive disturbance visible from the top of the highest peak in Kentucky.