Trump administration kills criminal probe into Justice coal polluters

criminal Clean – Federal criminal investigators were moving toward a Clean Water Act case involving coal companies tied to Sen. Jim Justice, a close Trump ally from West Virginia. But the deputy attorney general’s office stopped the probe midstream, telling prosecutors to “pen

For months. federal prosecutors and investigators had been building a criminal Clean Water Act case around the coal empire tied to Sen. Jim Justice—one that has long been at the center of repeated pollution allegations. Then. as the effort started to press forward. the Justice companies’ lawyers were left with a blunt directive: the work would stop.

Trump administration officials earlier this year killed a federal criminal investigation into the coal empire owned by Sen. Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and a close ally of President Donald Trump. The probe focused on potential criminal violations of the Clean Water Act by multistate mining operations largely run by Justice’s son. Jay. according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.

The criminal inquiry was a major step in a yearslong effort to police Southern Coal—a Virginia-based company—and the dozens of affiliated mining operations controlled by the Justice family. Over the past decade. Southern Coal and other Justice corporations have racked up tens of thousands of alleged Clean Water Act violations and have been sued repeatedly by state and federal prosecutors over their failure to follow environmental laws at their mining sites.

The investigation that was shuttered was a joint effort involving prosecutors and investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency. the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section. and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. Prosecutors were examining whether the “incessant” pollution violations had risen to criminal behavior, people familiar with the matter said.

Prosecutors believed they had a strong case. People familiar with the investigation told ProPublica that prosecutors initially had the blessing of Robert Tracci, President Donald Trump’s top official in the Western District of Virginia, to move forward.

But the momentum didn’t last. In recent months. as prosecutors fought the Justice companies in court over subpoenas for records. the Office of the Deputy Attorney General shut down the probe. Todd Blanche still headed the office at the time—before he later assumed the role of acting attorney general in April.

“They were told ‘pencils down,’” a person familiar with the investigation said.

For environmental enforcement, the timing was striking. People familiar with the case said it was notable that prosecutors were even conducting a criminal Clean Water Act investigation in the first place. given that the DOJ only charges a dozen or so criminal Clean Water Act cases each year. They also said it was rare for top DOJ officials to derail a criminal investigation initiated by career officials at such an early stage.

Former federal prosecutor Rick Mountcastle. who spent 24 years as a prosecutor in the Western District of Virginia. said. speaking generally about DOJ protocols: “I’ve never heard of that happening before.” He added: “There shouldn’t be some sort of untouchables list of people who are immune from enforcement.”.

The probe’s abrupt end fits into a broader account of shifting DOJ priorities—especially in cases involving environmental enforcement against large polluters. The administration’s environmental actions fell sharply. officials said. including a move early in the second Trump administration in which top career environmental lawyers at the DOJ were reassigned to work on the president’s immigration crackdown. In addition. in the beginning of the year. Blanche personally ordered prosecutors to stand down from cases against diesel emissions cheating.

Steven Ruby, an attorney for the Justice companies, said the companies became aware of the criminal investigation earlier this year. Ruby said the government’s inquiry concluded there wasn’t any evidence to pursue criminal charges. adding. “There’s never been any intentional wrongdoing by the companies.”.

Ruby also said that while the company objected to subpoenas in court. it simultaneously convinced the DOJ to drop the case. “The Justice companies — because Sen. Justice has been governor and because he’s now a senator — are singled out and put under a microscope. and there’s news coverage of violations and consent decrees and compliance actions. ” Ruby said. He argued: “But the fact of the matter is that those kinds of issues exist throughout the industry.”.

But current and former government officials familiar with the companies’ environmental record called the Justice firms routine bad actors.

EPA and the Western District of Virginia spokespeople referred questions to the DOJ. Justice’s senate office did not respond to questions.

Emily Covington, a DOJ spokeswoman, said in an email: “There is no case to be made here for a criminal investigation.” She also said, “Any career prosecutor who would paint a criminal case as strong is simply a deep state prosecutor continuing to push the priorities of the Biden administration.”

Covington said the deputy attorney general’s office is routinely involved with reviewing cases and that the office determined the case was not consistent with the Trump administration’s priorities. adding that it was more appropriate to resolve it through the less punitive civil process. “The bottom line is that this was a politically motivated prosecution for a case that can and should be resolved civilly. ” she wrote.

The Justice family’s financial picture has been contested. Estimates of the family’s fortune fluctuate. Forbes tallied Jim Justice’s net worth to be as much as $1.9 billion until 2021; more recently. it declared him “broke” and facing $1 billion in debt. Environmental groups have accused the companies of misrepresenting their assets to avoid paying environmental penalties.

Ruby said company finances seesaw because coal is a “boom and bust” industry.

Justice’s political path has also sharpened the stakes. Justice. who was first elected governor of West Virginia as a Democrat. announced in 2017 at a Trump rally that he had become a Republican. Trump backed Justice’s bid for Senate in 2023 amid a contested GOP primary. Justice won the seat, helping Trump clinch a GOP majority in the Senate.

At the heart of the Clean Water Act claims are the nature of coal mining itself and the duty to monitor and limit pollution discharge. Coal mines often leach dangerous chemicals like arsenic into waterways. They are required to strictly monitor pollution discharge and keep it under certain limits.

Over time, the family’s companies have settled many accusations of environmental violations by agreeing to pay fines and invest in better pollution prevention without admitting or denying culpability.

In recent years, however, the company’s conduct has repeatedly come into conflict with regulators and the legal system. Jay Justice has been a no-show at court hearings involving Clean Water Act violations in the past. In 2024, a judge in Alabama issued a civil contempt order against him for his repeated failure to respond to lawsuits. Ruby attributed the violations in that case to surrounding facilities the family does not own. The case is now in mediation.

A set of legal proceedings has also laid bare what prosecutors would need in order to move from civil enforcement into criminal territory—particularly allegations involving knowing violations.

Those allegations surfaced in a 2023 civil case brought by the Justice companies’ former chief of environmental compliance, Robert Fowler. Fowler claimed Jay Justice blocked him from spending money necessary to comply with environmental laws. including making court-ordered payments and repairing equipment. According to emails disclosed in the lawsuit, the situation at times involved complaints of near-daily violations of permit water requirements.

In a resignation letter and in subsequent court filings, Fowler said he was concerned the circumstances exposed him to “potential civil and criminal liability.” Fowler declined to comment.

The Justice companies denied Fowler’s accusations. The Justice companies believe the government’s criminal investigation was based primarily on Fowler’s claims, which Ruby dismissed as allegations of a “disgruntled” former employee.

Last month, a jury in Alabama found that the Justice companies had made false representations to Fowler about his role, but did not award him the millions of dollars in damages he demanded. The judge has yet to enter his final ruling.

In the DOJ’s aborted investigation of Southern Coal. prosecutors and federal agents had begun gathering evidence. scrutinizing testimony in the Justices’ various civil trials. and approached former employees seeking information. Government attorneys also sent subpoenas seeking further documentation. people familiar with the probe said—actions opposed by the company’s lawyers. People familiar with the case said DOJ attorneys were ready to fight the Justice companies’ lawyers over the subpoenas.

But before they could move forward, Blanche’s office shut it down—ending, for now, a criminal track that prosecutors said they believed could be proven.

The companies say the inquiry concluded there was no evidence to pursue charges and that issues are industrywide. The DOJ’s position. as stated in an email by Covington. is that the deputy attorney general’s office determined the case didn’t match the administration’s priorities and should be handled through civil enforcement. People familiar with the investigation. meanwhile. described prosecutors as having planned to push ahead after Tracci’s early approval—until the “pencils down” order arrived from the deputy attorney general’s office.

Jim Justice Jay Justice Clean Water Act Department of Justice Environmental Protection Agency Western District of Virginia Southern Coal Todd Blanche Robert Tracci Robert Fowler Jay Justice contempt order