Mine Safety Debt For West Virginia Gov. Justice's Family Companies Grows to $4M

An Ohio Valley ReSource analysis of federal mine safety data shows that the companies belonging to the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice owe $4.3 million in delinquent debt for mine safety violations. That is far more than the companies owed when Justice ran for governor in 2016, when he pledged to make good on such debts.

The Justice companies still have the highest delinquent mine safety debt in the U.S. mining industry.

Unpaid mine safety violations have been a chronic problem for the Justice companies. In 2014, an NPR investigation showed Justice companies owed just under $2 million in delinquent federal mine safety penalties, which are levied by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA.

Two years later, when Jim Justice was running for governor, a follow-up investigation showed that the companies’ debt had climbed to $2.6 million, making the Justice companies the nation’s top delinquents in unpaid mine safety fines.

Read more: https://www.wvpublic.org/post/mine-safety-debt-wv-gov-justice-s-family-companies-grows-4m