A federal judge is giving a coal products company tied to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family more time to address a civil contempt order levied last month in a Clean Water Act lawsuit.
In a follow-up order late last week, Chief U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama delayed judgment until after Bluestone Coke and two environmental groups go through mediation on Oct. 25, with a status report on the results due the next day. The suit says that Bluestone is owned by Jim Justice, a Republican in his second term as governor who is now running for U.S. Senate, and his son, Jay Justice.
Proctor had previously set a Sept. 11 deadline for the company to pay attorney fees, provide deposition dates and produce records in the suit brought last year by Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution over alleged water permit violations tied to a now-shuttered coke plant in the Birmingham area.
In overlapping status reports last week, lawyers for the two groups said that Bluestone had released records some six months after the original request and also set aside several days next month for depositions but had yet to pay more than $13,000 in attorney fees.
