A federal appeals court in Virginia says two coal companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice must pay millions of dollars in penalties.
A three-judge panel on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that Southern Coal and Premium Coal must pay more than $2.5 million to resolve Clean Water Act violations in multiple states.
A lower court found that the companies, owned by the Justice family, were in violation of a 2016 consent decree to resolve nearly 24,000 water pollution violations.
In 2020, the U.S. Justice Department issued a notice of default and took the companies to court.
Southern and Premium appealed a 2021 district court ruling that upheld the consent decree.
The consent decree covered violations in five states: West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Four of those states joined the Justice Department’s 2016 case.
Only West Virginia did not.