A&G Coal Corporation, the coal company majority-owned by U.S. Senator Jim Justice and managed by his son Jay Justice, is under renewed legal scrutiny — this time for failing to comply with a federal consent decree that was supposed to ensure the long-overdue cleanup of three major surface mines in Wise County, Virginia.

On April 9, 2025, A&G appeared before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon for a contempt hearing. The court awarded plaintiffs a three-month discovery period followed by an evidentiary hearing, marking the latest turn in an escalating legal battle over A&G’s continued environmental noncompliance.

In Jan. 2023, following a citizen lawsuit, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club reached a legal settlement with A&G Coal Corporation. The resulting consent decree required the company to complete reclamation of the Looney Ridge Surface Mine #1 (Permit #1101905), Canepatch Surface Mine (Permit #1101918) and Sawmill Hollow #3 Mine (Permit #1101914) by Aug. 31, 2023, Feb. 29, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025, respectively. The company was required to maintain equipment and labor on site until reclamation was completed, deposit up to $600,000 into an escrow account dedicated to reclamation and avoid mining at any site where the company had missed reclamation deadlines. 

The decree also mandated bimonthly status reports to ensure transparency and compliance. Failure to meet these terms would trigger penalties of up to $75,000 per missed deadline and $37,500 per month per violation. Penalties would be paid to the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, a local organization that conducts watershed cleanup and improvement projects in Southwestern Virginia.

Despite those clear requirements, A&G missed multiple deadlines for deploying equipment and completing reclamation work. The company also engaged in prohibited coal removal at a mine site and failed to pay stipulated penalties owed to the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable. While A&G claimed it lacked the funds to meet these obligations, it failed to produce any financial records to support that assertion. Yet, just days before the April 9 hearing, the company suddenly deposited the full $600,000 into the escrow account — raising questions about its earlier claims of financial hardship and its commitment to complying with the decree.

A&G’s actions reflect a broader pattern in the coal industry: the rise of so-called “zombie mines” — sites that are no longer actively producing coal but haven’t been reclaimed, sometimes for years. These mines remain in limbo, posing serious environmental risks and draining public resources. Appalachian Voices has written extensively about the Justice family reclamation obligations and has outlined how mines such as those owned by the Justice family — including A&G — create systemic risk by dodging cleanup responsibilities even as they continue limited operations or sit idle. The problem of zombie mines has since become a national concern, spurring a 2024 policy platform endorsed by dozens of organizations calling for stricter enforcement, bond reform and an end to regulatory loopholes that allow this limbo to persist.

The court’s ruling to allow discovery offers an opportunity to pull back the curtain on A&G’s operations and financial practices. The upcoming evidentiary hearing could lead to further sanctions, and potentially set a precedent for holding coal companies accountable when they break faith with legal obligations and local communities.

The mines in question — spanning nearly 4,700 acres — sit idle in a state of partial abandonment, with highwalls, unstable slopes, and eroding surfaces that continue to degrade nearby landscapes and threaten surrounding communities. These long-neglected sites serve as visible reminders of the consequences when coal companies are allowed to defer reclamation obligations indefinitely. 

 While the 2023 consent decree was a promising step toward ensuring long-delayed restoration, A&G’s conduct since then has shown how even court orders can be evaded or ignored without vigilant oversight and community pressure. The sudden escrow deposit, made only under the shadow of a contempt hearing, underscores the importance of keeping enforcement tools sharp — and using them.

We’ll continue to report as new developments emerge in the discovery process and prepare for the evidentiary hearing later this year.