Judge: Justice must pay $2.5M for environmental violations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has lost another costly court ruling over his coal companies’ environmental violations. A federal judge in Virginia has ruled Southern Coal Corp. and two dozen other companies must pay $2.5 million. That’s for in penalties at mine sites in Tennessee. A joint filing by the U.S. Department of Justice, Alabama and Tennessee says the company violated a 2016 agreement for environment clean up. The agreement, known as a consent decree, required the Justice companies to pay $900,000 in civil penalties to resolve more than 23,000 water pollution violations.