News
Justice to Justice Campaign Continues to Grow!
Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
The Justice to Justice Campaign was launched by the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS) in May 2014 and quickly drew regional and national attention to the reckless practices of West Virginia billionaire Jim Justice.
Jim Justice owns Southern Coal, based in Roanoke, VA, and a multitude of subsidiaries across Central Appalachia. SAMS is demanding that Justice commit to ending his mountaintop removal operations, ensure the best reclamation practices on existing strip mining operations, and that he settle all unpaid and outstanding debts, to both workers and agencies.
SAMS is joined in this effort by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KY), Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (TN), and Coal River Mountain Watch (WV) in their efforts to bring scrutiny and attention to the coal operator’s destructive practices, and to call on him to clean up his act. Justice operates mines in all four states, and has recently caught attention from federal and state agencies for failure to report discharges, bond forfeiture for failure to properly reclaim strip mine operations, and violations for dangerous fly rock in West Virginia.
So far there have been a string of victories and important media coverage due to this savvy campaign. To support the campaign, sign the petition here!
In Tennessee, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) has recently issued 39 cessation orders against three Jim Justice owned companies in Tennessee.
In Virginia, The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy is preparing to seize $9.9 million from A&G Coal through bond forfeiture in an attempt to restore idle mining land at company expense. Also in Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, and The Sierra Club’s victory in their selenium enforcement suit last year against Jim Justice owned A&G and their Kelly Branch mine in Wise County, Virginia.
We can only expect more great things from this campaign fighting for justice in the mountains!
