Coal Companies Agree to Pay $189,600 to Clean Up Abandoned Mines

Nearly a dozen coal companies agreed to pay almost $189,600 in unpaid fees to clean up old abandoned mines, according to a consent judgment filed in federal court.

James Justice III, the son of the sitting governor of West Virginia, and the coal companies, which he owns or operates, failed to pay Abandoned Mine Land reclamation fees and audit debts owed under the Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Act. The program uses fees paid by present-day coal mining companies to reclaim coal mines abandoned before 1977.

• The United States, which brought the May lawsuit, said that the companies owe ...