DOJ sues coal companies owned by son of top Republican Manchin challengerThe Justice Department announced civil litigation Wednesday against 13 coal companies owned and operated by the son of a top political rival of Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division, alleges that James C. Justice III – son of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice – and his companies committed more than 100 violations harmful to the environment.
The campaign for Gov. Justice, who is running against U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney for the Republican nomination, asserting DOJ "has decided to play politics."
"Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and the Democrats have seen the polls that show Jim Justice winning this race, and they're panicking," Justice for Senate campaign manager Roman Stauffer said. "We will see a lot more of this as the Democrats work to help Alex Mooney because they know they can easily beat him."
The complaint names as defendants the younger Justice and 13 local companies: A&G Coal Corp., Bluestone Coal Corp., Bluestone Oil Corp., Chestnut Land Holdings, LLC, Dynamic Energy, Inc., Frontier Coal Co., Justice Energy Co., Kentucky Fuel Corp., National Coal, LLC., Pay Car Mining, Inc., Premium Coal Company, Inc., S and H Mining, Inc., and Tams Management, Inc., as defendants. The DOJ seeks payment of civil penalties and reclamation fee debt amounting to approximately $7.6 million.
"Over a five-year period, defendants engaged in over 130 violations of federal law, thereby posing health and safety risks to the public and the environment," U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia said in a statement Wednesday. "After given notice, they then failed to remedy those violations and were ordered over 50 times to cease mining activities until their violations were abated. Today, the filing of this complaint continues the process of holding defendants accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of the public and our environment."
Gov. Justice, a Republican, is looking to unseat Manchin from the Senate in 2024. The DOJ litigation was announced a day after Newsweek reported that Manchin was trailing 22 points behind Justice in a new poll, a concerning signal to Democrats looking to hold onto the Senate majority during next year’s elections..............
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-sues-coal-companies-owned-son-top-republican-manchin-challenger