The Justice Department (DOJ) on Wednesday filed a civil complaint against West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R), a 2024 Senate candidate, and 13 coal companies he owns, alleging unpaid fines for earlier mining violations.
The complaint claims Justice-owned firms committed more than 130 violations of federal mining law between 2018 and 2022 and ignored more than 50 warnings from the government to halt operations until they had been resolved. The alleged violations also accrued $7.6 million in unpaid fees and interest, according to the filing.
“Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities including surface coal mining operations,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement. “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.”
Justice, a one-time Democrat, is challenging Sen. Joe Manchin (D), perhaps the most vulnerable of a handful of red-state Democrats up for reelection next year.
In a statement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) accused the Biden administration of targeting Justice due to his Senate candidacy.
“Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has gone totally rogue. Democrats weaponizing the federal government to attack the family of a Republican Senate candidate is a complete abuse of power,” NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell said in a statement.
The governor, who has an estimated net worth of over $1 billion, has reportedly sought to put his family coal businesses up for sale as he pursues the Senate seat, according to a March report.
In 2021, Justice and his son and business partner were fined $2.9 million by the state of Kentucky over allegations they did not comply with the mine-reclamation process for three mines. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court also upheld a $2.5 million penalty against Justice-owned mines over allegations they violated environmental regulations.
Mister Truth has reached out to Justice’s office for comment.