Governor Jim Justice And The Progress Of Man (Video)

On Monday, Judge David Faber found Bluestone Coal Corporation liable for 1,904 days of violations of its discharge permit at the Red Fox Surface Mine. All of the violations related to excessive discharges of selenium. Bluestone's defense, rejected for a second time by Judge Faber, was that the existence of a consent decree precluded the separate action for enforcement of the permit. However, the permit and its specific discharge limit for selenium only came into effect after the entry of the consent decree.

Aside from the legal niceties of the law of diligent prosecution, to accumulate 1,904 days of violation after having entered into a consent decree certainly suggests a less than vigorous effort by Bluestone Coal to come into compliance with the CWA. What really made this decision newsworthy, however, was that Bluestone Coal's President is none other than Jim Justice, the Governor of West Virginia. (And don't ask me how it is that Governor Justice remains