In his first time publicly addressing the multiple issues raised against his family’s businesses in the last week, Gov. Jim Justice on Friday distanced himself from the family business empire and doubled down on claims that the challenges are the result of political attacks against him instead of real consequences for years of unpaid bills and fines.
In regards to a legal motion filed by the federal government this week asking a court to put 23 of the Justice family coal companies in contempt for failure to pay years of overdue health and safety fines, Justice said he is not involved in the companies’ operations.
“I’m not involved in anywhere close to the daily operations, anywhere close to what you would think that I would know of our businesses,” Justice said. “From time to time, you have a tough go up and everything, but every single time … if there’s a problem, it gets taken care of … We may be a few minutes late to the fire, but we always show up at the fire.”
In this case, a “few minutes late to the fire” seems to mean about 10 years, with the unpaid fines dating back to as late as 2014, according to court filings.
The memorandum filed by the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on Tuesday said mines owned by the Justice companies racked up “hundreds” of citations and orders since 2014 for violations of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act as well as standards set by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The debt for those fines — which at one point totaled about $5.13 million — were meant to be paid in full by March. To date, about $600,000 in fines remain unpaid.
Justice opened Friday’s briefing by paying respects to a coal miner who died on Aug. 5 at a Taylor County mine. The miner, 57-year-old Joe Crandall, is the third miner to die while at work in West Virginia in 2024, according to MSHA.
“We’ve lost a hero in my book,” Justice said of Crandall at the beginning of the briefing.
By the end of the briefing, Justice used Crandall’s death to transition into a political rant against energy policy he believes undermines the importance of coal mining and praised former President Donald Trump.
The governor did not respond directly to parts of a question on Friday asking if his companies would be paying the delinquent fines.
The lack of payment, according to the attorneys for the federal government, has yielded real harm. The unpaid health and safety citations, they wrote, are a means to compel mine operators to work within the scope of the law and ensure their employees are working in safe conditions.
“[The companies’] continual evasion of their financial obligations under the Mine Act removes the incentive of these Defendants — and other mining companies — from complying with MSHA’s health and safety standards designed to protect the nations’ miners,” the memorandum reads.
In regards to the family’s Greenbrier Hotel — which is set to go up for public auction later this month due to the Justice family defaulting on millions in bank loans — Justice said leaders at JPMorgan were pursuing the foreclosure because of his politics.
“It almost approaches blackmail,” Justice said of the bank’s move to recoup some of the $9.4 million it’s still owed from loans to the Justice family by auctioning the hotel.
Justice is currently running a Republican campaign for the U.S. Senate, where he is heavily favored to win in the deep red state.
“This is all about Jim Justice being the one that flips the United States Senate,” Justice told reporters on his weekly news briefing Friday. “It’s about trying to twist Jim Justice or hurt Jim Justice from a political standpoint, there is no question whatsoever that it’s about anything but that.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has vocally defended former President Donald Trump and his supporters against criticism from Democrats. Trump told reporters last month that, if elected in November, he may consider Dimon to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com. Follow West Virginia Watch on Facebook and X.