Thirteen coal corporations owned by the family of West Virginia Governor Jim Justice are being sued by the government over unpaid penalties for earlier mining legislation violations that pose well being and protection dangers and threaten environmental hurt.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that over the previous 5 years, the United States Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement cited the corporations for greater than 130 violations and issued over 500 cessation orders. The overall quantity of penalties, charges, pastime, and administrative bills owed by the defendants is roughly $7.6 million. The corporations had been additionally recommended greater than 50 instances to forestall mining actions till the violations had been corrected, mentioned U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia.
Among the violations, the corporations failed to make sure the seismic balance of a dam, take care of sediment-control measures, transparent rock and particles from a haul street after a rock fall, and correctly dispose of non-coal waste. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Todd Kim of the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division mentioned, “Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities, including surface coal mining operations. 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.”
Governor Jim Justice, a Republican two-term Governor who isn’t named within the lawsuit, accused the Biden management of retaliation. In April, he introduced that he’s working for Democrat Joe Manchin’s U.S. Senate seat in 2024.
The governor is the landlord of 112 coal, agricultural, and different companies, together with the aforementioned 13 coal corporations. He has been plagued by litigation over unpaid expenses. He has tried to distance himself from his corporations, announcing that his two grownup youngsters are working them. His son, Jay Justice, is called within the lawsuit. The lawsuit lists the coal corporations’ major position of industry in Roanoke, Virginia.
During his weekly media availability on Wednesday, Governor Jim Justice attempted to position area between himself and his corporations whilst additionally pointing a finger on the Biden management, announcing, “I’ve announced as a Republican that I’m running for the U.S. Senate. 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. There’s a lot at stake right now.”
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