West Virginia Governor's Son Held in Contempt Over Alabama Pollution Lawsuit: Court Orders Compliance
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice's son and a Birmingham coke plant manager were held in contempt for not cooperating in an Alabama pollution lawsuit. They face penalties for pollution violations and non-compliance with court orders.
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The son of West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, James “Jay” Justice III, and the manager of a Birmingham coke plant owned by his family, were recently held in contempt by a federal judge. This happened because they did not cooperate with local environmental groups' requests before the trial in a pollution lawsuit in Alabama.
Jay Justice, who is also the president of Bluestone Coke, the company accused in the lawsuit, did not attend a hearing last week. The lawsuit, filed by Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP), claims the coke plant committed nearly 400 water pollution violations. The plant has been shut down for over three years due to air pollution issues.
The judge, R. David Proctor, found Jay Justice and Donald Wiggins, the manager of Bluestone Coke, in contempt of court for not following orders to provide information requested by the environmental groups and to schedule dates for depositions.
Judge Proctor ordered the defendants to pay the environmental groups' costs and fees by September 11 and to comply with all discovery requests to avoid further penalties.
As of Monday, the defendants had not yet complied with the judge’s order. Attempts to contact their lawyer were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit alleges that the Birmingham coke plant has repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into Five Mile Creek and its tributaries. The environmental groups reported that Bluestone Coke documented 392 violations of this act.
In addition, the Jefferson County Board of Health stated last year that Bluestone Coke owes $356,000 in penalties and late fees for not following a 2022 settlement over air pollution violations. The company had previously agreed to pay $925,000 in fines, the largest ever imposed by the Jefferson County Board of Health.
As of May, Bluestone Coke was about $300,000 behind on its payment schedule and continues to accumulate late penalties. The necessary improvements to reopen the plant have not been made, so it remains closed.
