Alabama Plant Owned by West Virginia Governor’s Family Fined Nearly $1 Million

Coal is loaded onto a truck at a coal mine on top of Kayford Mountain in W.Va. on June 12, 2008. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Bluestone Coke, an Alabama coking plant owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, will pay nearly $1 million in civil penalties after a consent decree was entered and approved by a circuit court judge in Birmingham last week.

The settlement agreement was entered between Bluestone Coke, the Jefferson County Department of Health (JCDH), and a Birmingham environmental group known as GASP.

A coking plant heats coal at high temperatures in closed, oxygen-free ovens, which cooks off impurities while not destroying the coal, according to a lawsuit (pdf) filed in 2021 by the board that oversees the JCDH. The byproduct is coke, which is used as fuel for fire blast furnaces to make metal and cement.

The fine to be paid is $925,000, of which 50 percent will go toward the health department’s “Sustainable Residential-Industrial Buffers Fund,” while a public comment period will be held for a “significant portion” of the remaining funds.

“The public will have opportunities to provide comments in writing and at a public input session to voice opinions and preferences regarding how a significant part of the civil penalty should be spent,” the department explained in a news release (pdf).

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin on Monday wrote on Twitter that the ruling was insufficient and called on the company’s permit to not be renewed.

“That’s not justice for those who have been harmed. It’s not even close. Bluestone Coke has disregarded the health & safety of our residents for decades,” the mayor wrote online. “Their irresponsibility has polluted our community and directly harmed the health of our residents. I encourage the Jefferson County Department of Health to NOT renew Bluestone’s permit to operate.”

Plant Denied License Renewal

The plant has been shuttered since October 2021 after the health department denied a renewal of the plant’s operating license, and it has remained offline since, according to the health department.

The department filed a complaint against the company in August 2021 seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief under state and local air pollution regulations (pdf). They said at the time Bluestone was unable to “operate its machines and equipment in compliance with regulations.” The subsequent lawsuit filed by the JCDH’s board called the company a “menace” to public health.

Jim Justice, now governor of West Virginia, in a 2016 file photograph. Steve Helber/AP Photo

Justice put his son, Jay Justice, in charge of his coal mining and farming interests when he became governor of West Virginia in 2016. Justice told WOWK-TV in 2021 that his son bought the plant.

During a press conference in 2021, the governor told WOWK that that for all practical purposes, Bluestone Coke had declared bankruptcy twice before his family took over.

“And with all of that and everything, on top of that it is very, very, very, very, very old,” Justice said. “There’s a tremendous amount of this that I don’t have any idea about, you know. But with all that, my family will do the right stuff. That’s all there is to it. We’ll do the right stuff.”

Stipulations in Decree

The decree does not authorize the company to resume operations or construction. It does include specific steps the company must take in addition to regulatory requirements before being granted a new permit by the health department.

JCDH notes some requirements as developing a corrective action plan, conducting fence line air monitoring for sulfur dioxide, and hiring an independent auditor to monitor compliance and report issues. The decree notes the company could face additional monetary penalties if it fails to comply with the decree’s requirements.

“Residents of Harriman Park, Fairmont, and Collegeville have been exposed unjustly to toxic and visible air pollution for far too long. This agreement will finally give community members a chance to breathe easier and an opportunity to weigh in on how this penalty should be spent,” Michael Hansen, executive director of GASP, said in a statement. “This consent decree makes it clear that companies like Bluestone Coke cannot continue to pollute without consequences, and that starts with standards that put people—not profits—first.”

Steve Ruby, a lawyer for the Justice family, told ProPublica the company invested tens of millions of dollars in “long-deferred maintenance” but was ultimately unable to fully overcome challenges that existed before the family purchased the plant. He told West Virginia’s Gazette-Mail that the company is exploring options to rebuild a “state-of-the-art facility.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.