Environmental critic, coal chief unite as allies

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Environmental critic, coal chief unite as allies

Posted: Sunday, March 15, 2015 12:30 am

By Jeff Sturgeon [e-mail] 981-3251

Roanoke-based Southern Coal Corp. in 2014 fell way behind on regulatory paperwork, broke commitments to restore mined land and to safeguard streams, ponds and wells, and ran up a list of worker safety violations.

The only coal enterprise operated out of the Roanoke Valley, Southern Coal, which has several affiliates, is the largest privately held coal operator east of the Mississippi and employs 1,000 people. It is owned by West Virginia billionaire Jim Justice and run by his son Jay, who lives in Roanoke.
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Business conditions were terrible. Critics were getting nasty. Conservationist and health care executive Tom Clarke of Botetourt County called the 63-year-old Justice “America’s No. 1 violator of mining laws” and an “old-fashioned example of human greed.”
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{Last month}, Clarke and Jay Justice met in the Roanoke office of the five-state coal company on South Jefferson Street. Clarke offered to help confront a company record tarnished by hundreds of violations and millions in unpaid fines — the very lapses he had decried. ... Clarke, known for acquiring the Natural Bridge attraction in Rockbridge County in early 2014, told them he wished to help the Justice organization rather than merely be a critic.