Coal Firms, US Seek Judgment On Outstanding Mining Penalties

Coal companies, the son of the sitting governor of West Virginia, and the US Justice Department have filed cross motions for summary judgment on outstanding penalties related to surface mining violations.

The coal companies previously agreed to pay roughly $189,000 in fees to clean up abandoned mines. The defendants say the outstanding corporate and individual civil penalties violate the Eighth Amendment because they are excessive fines, according to their motion filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia on Dec. 8.

When the government filed its action against more than a dozen coal companies owned by ...