Bluestone Coke, the now-shuttered coking plant in North Birmingham, failed to pay fees in time in a federal lawsuit over polluting Five Mile Creek, environmental groups say.
James “Jay” Justice III, son of West Virginia Governor and now-candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Justice, is president of Bluestone. Last month, U.S District Judge R. David Proctor held the younger Justice, plant manager Donald Wiggins and Bluestone in contempt for failing to comply with discovery requests in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP).
The defendants had until September 11 to “purge” the contempt charge by paying plaintiff’s court fees and providing the requested information. But today, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), representing the environmental groups, said that while Bluestone provided some documents, the defendants did not pay the necessary fees.
“Bluestone is still in contempt for failing to pay fees ordered by the court. We are reviewing the documents Bluestone provided and hope they are in compliance with the court’s order,” SELC Senior Attorney Sarah Stokes said in a news release. “We will continue our fight holding the representatives of Bluestone Coke, including the Justice family, accountable for the ongoing pollution happening in Birmingham.”
Last month, Justice failed to appear in court for a hearing on the case. According to Proctor’s order from last month, if the defendants failed to comply by Sept. 11 they then would be made to appear in court and explain why.
James Seal, an attorney for Bluestone, did not respond to requests for comment.
Last year, Black Warrior Riverkeeper and GASP sued Bluestone in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, alleging that it violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants, like barium and chloride, into Five Mile Creek, which flows into the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River.
“While Jay Justice and Bluestone Coke defiantly skirt court orders, their toxic pollution continues to taint North Birmingham communities and Five Mile Creek,” Nelson Brooke of Black Warrior Riverkeeper said in a news release. “This industrial facility has polluted the air, land, groundwater, and streams in this area with impunity for far too long. It is time to hold Bluestone fully accountable for the proper cleanup of impacted communities and water resources.”
Bluestone exceeded discharged pollutant limits set by its permit more than 390 times, according to the group’s complaint. The coking plant was closed in 2021 after the Jefferson County Health Department declined to renew its permit.
The health department also levied a $925,000 fine in 2022 as part of a settlement agreement between Bluestone, the health department and GASP, after the group and the SELC collected air samples showing elevated levels of air pollutants benzene and naphthalene.
Bluestone Coke is located within the 35th Avenue Superfund Site, a historically Black area that’s home to several historic industrial facilities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently cleaning up contaminated soil in the site.
Coke is a form of coal that is used to create steel. The process of creating coke involves heating coal in a coking oven, a low-oxygen, high-heat kiln. The process generates coke gas, which contains pollutants like benzene and naphthalene.
The Justice family purchased the coking plant in 2019. Prior to their purchase, it had been operating for nearly 100 years.
