Coal companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family have settled with federal agencies to satisfy more than $5 million in unpaid penalties for violations of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.
Although it’s a settlement, the federal officials say the 23 named defendants agreed to pay the full amounts of the assessed civil penalties, plus interest and penalties.
Federal officials sued almost two dozen Justice companies almost a year ago over millions of dollars in unpaid safety violation penalties dating back years.
The settlement was announced today by U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen of the Western District of Virginia and David G. Zatezalo, assistant secretary of Labor for MSHA.
“Thanks to the hard work and persistence of career attorneys from our civil division and the MSHA, the 24 Justice entities have agreed to pay, in full, all outstanding debts and penalties associated with their mine-safety violations,” Cullen stated today.
“It is our hope that this landmark collection action and settlement agreement sends a clear message that the Department of Justice will aggressively pursue mine-safety violations and hold owners and operators accountable.”
Zatezalo added, “Ensuring that mine operators pay their penalties for violating mine safety and health laws is an important part of protecting miners’ safety and health, and that means holding them accountable if they fail to pay fines.”
In total, the Justice companies will pay $4,065,578.29 to satisfy the debts identified in the United States’ May 2019 complaint.
And the defendants and related company Bluestone Coal Corporation agreed to pay an additional $1,064,547.18 to get current on additional unpaid mine safety penalties that were not included in the federal government’s original complaint.
The federal civil action to collect debts owed was filed against Southern Coal Corporation, Justice Coal of Alabama, A&G Coal Corporation, Black River Coal, Chestnut Land Holdings, Double Bonus Coal Company, Dynamic Energy, Four Star Resources, Frontier Coal Company, Infinity Energy, Justice Energy Company, Justice Highwall Mining, Kentucky Fuel Corporation, Keystone Service Industries, M&P Services, Nine Mile Mining, Nufac Mining Company, Pay Car Mining; Premium Coal Company, S and H Mining, Sequoia Energy, Tams Management, and Virginia Fuel Corporation.
Stephen Ball, general counsel for the Justice companies, said “we believe this is a fair and reasonable settlement for the companies and the government in that we agreed to pay what we owe. We have always maintained our willingness to pay assessments owed by our companies.”
Between May 3, 2014, and May 3, 2019, MSHA collectively issued at least 2,297 citations to the companies for violations of the Mine Safety and Health Act and assessed civil penalties for each violation.
The Justice companies failed to pay the penalties, even after MSHA sent multiple demand letters.
MSHA then referred the civil penalties to the Department of Treasury for collection. The Department of Treasury made another written demand on the defendants, but the companies still failed to pay, and the Department of Treasury referred the civil penalties to the Department of Justice for collection.
On Sept. 5, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia made a written demand on the defendants for the delinquent debts. But the Justice companies still failed to pay the outstanding debts, and on May 7, 2019, the United States filed a civil complaint to collect the unpaid debts.