Billionaire coal executive to run for W.Va. governor

Businessman Jim Justice, a coal executive and the richest man in West Virginia, has announced he will run for governor of his state in 2016.

Justice is worth close to $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. He owns the state’s famed Greenbrier resort and made his fortune, in part, at the helm of his family’s agriculture and coal businesses.

Justice is a registered Republican, but he will run as a Democrat in the race to succeed Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, whose term is expiring.

{mosads}Justice said he is running for governor to improve the state’s economic standing, the Charleston Gazette reports. His mining background could be an asset in West Virginia, and he used part of his campaign announcement Monday to call for more jobs in the state’s beleaguered coal industry.

But his business experience could work against him, as well. Some of Justice’s companies have been the subject of lawsuits and government fines, and West Virginia Republicans have set up a website listing negative news stories about him. 

Reporters asked Justice about the fines on Monday, National Public Radio reports, and he said that, “We’re taking care of them. We’ll absolutely … make sure that every one of them are taken care of.”