Judge: Justice must pay $2.5M for environmental violations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has lost another costly court ruling over his coal companies' environmental violations.

A federal judge in Virginia ruled Southern Coal Corp. and two dozen other Justice-owned companies must pay $2.5 million in penalties and clean up mining sites in Tennessee.

Justice has long battled taxes, fines and court penalties in several states.

A joint filing by the U.S. Department of Justice, Alabama and Tennessee said the company violated a 2016 agreement for environment clean up, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

The agreement, known as a consent decree, required Southern Coal Corp. and two-dozen other companies to pay a $900,000 civil penalty to resolve more than 23,000 water pollution violations.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski ruled Tuesday that the companies failed to maintain water pollution control permits in Alabama and Tennessee and failed to complete mine stabilization work at three Tennessee sites.

“We’re disappointed in the ruling and are considering our options going forward, certainly including an appeal,” Steven Ruby, an attorney for the Justice companies, told the newspaper.

Justice lost another case last month in Kentucky when a judge ordered him and his son, Jay Justice, to pay $2.9 million in fines for cleanup violations in eastern Kentucky.