Gov. Jim Justice speaks to attendees at a recent bill signing during the 2023 West Virginia Legislative session. On March 6, 2023, Justice signed a bill into law dividing the state DHHR into different agencies.
Gov. Jim Justice may put his family’s coal business up for sale ahead of a potential run for the U.S. Senate, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Justice owns several companies that operate in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and other states.
Justice’s term as governor ends next year, and he is weighing a challenge to US Sen. Joe Manchin.
The WSJ article said the sale of the coal business would help Justice settle its massive debt.
Justice companies have paid millions of dollars in fines and penalties to many states, most of which are related to unfinished mine recovery.
In January, A&G Coal settled a lawsuit over three unclaimed mine sites in southwest Virginia. As part of the settlement, A&G must complete reclamation work on the sites by 2025 and face higher fines if the new deadline is not met.
It also agreed to fund reclamation costs of up to $600,000 from coal mining at three sites.
In December, Bluestone Coke agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit over air pollution from its coke plant in Birmingham, Alabama.
The plant has been cited for years for hazardous emissions from its coking ovens. The health department of Jefferson County, Alabama, went to court in 2021 alleging that Bluestone violated its permit and the federal Clean Air Act.
In 2021, a Kentucky judge ordered the Justice companies to pay a $3 million penalty, plus interest, for failing to complete reclamation work at three sites in eastern Kentucky. Justice and his son, Jay, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Justice’s coal business is primarily metallurgical coal, the kind used to make steel.
A 2016 NPR investigation found Justice’s coal companies owed $15 million in taxes and safety penalties in six states, including nearly $7 million in Kentucky.
Justice was elected in 2016 as a Democrat, but later switched parties.
Justice spokesman Jordan Damron did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sale.
