West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s son, company found in civil contempt in pollution lawsuit

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WOWK) — Bluestone Coke, a plant owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family in Birmingham, was held in civil contempt in a lawsuit alleging they polluted the nearby Five Mile Creek, according to federal court documents.

The original documents were filed on Sept. 13, 2023, from environmental groups: Black Warrior River-Keeper and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP).

The groups allege Bluestone Coke, which the Associated Press reported heats coal to cook off impurities while not burning the coal , has “suffocate[d]” Five Mile Creek with black and brown coal sediments.

The new order, filed on Thursday, found Bluestone Coke, Donald Wiggs, and James “Jay” Justice III – the West Virginia governor’s son – in civil contempt “for failure to comply with this court’s… orders.”

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the defendants have failed to give deposition dates despite three court orders. The documents also said the plaintiffs had sent emails asking for information and got no response.

Another order said the parties needed to be in an in-person hearing on July 30. It was later rescheduled to Aug. 21, which the court documents said they did not show up for.

The company and other defendants have until Sept. 11 to pay any costs and fees, and produce discovery request responses, deposition date responses and alternative mediation date responses, the court documents show. Documents said this would “purge the contempt.”

A statement from the Southern Environmental Law Center said in part, “The Justices are treating the legal proceeding just like they treated North Birmingham. For decades, North Birmingham residents have endured pollution and harm from this coke facility. The Justices parachuted into North Birmingham, bought the facility, took what they could, and left Alabamians to clean up their mess.”

This is not the first time Bluestone Coke has been accused of pollution. In December 2022, they were ordered to pay a $925,000 fine for causing severe air pollution.

At the time, Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) said, “You know, in all of that, it’s old. It’s really, really, really, really, really old. And so the plant, they tried to operate it for awhile and everything. The plant was on its last legs, and the plant had to be shut down.”

According to the Associated Press, the plant has been shut down since October 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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