By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A deal between companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice and the federal government to pay unpaid mine safety fines and penalties could be in jeopardy due to infrequent payments by Justice’s companies.
Aaron Houchens, an attorney representing Justice’s companies, filed a response Monday to a motion to compel compliance with an April 2020 consent decree filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia after Justice’s companies missed their March installment of $102,442.
“(Justice’s companies) have now paid the March 2022 installment and this payment renders the sole relief requested by the United States moot,” Houchens wrote.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed its motion last Thursday in District Court for the Western District of Virginia Roanoke Division seeking the March payment. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Day Taylor and Krista Consiglio Frith wrote Justice’s companies stopped making consistent monthly payments starting in December…
