CHARLESTON, W.Va. — American Electric Power received the pitch for the $34.2 million coal deal last September.
Someone from Jim Justice’s Southern Coal Sales Corp. contacted AEP, the parent company of Appalachian Power, and asked the electric utility to buy 750,000 tons of coal for the John Amos power plant in Putnam County.
Without the deal, Southern’s representative said, according to public testimony, mines would close and miners — employed by the soon-to-be Democratic candidate for governor — would be out of work.
That didn’t happen. AEP accepted Southern’s unsolicited offer — including options for an additional $11.4 million or $22.8 million worth of coal — without fielding bids from other coal suppliers.
Railcars full of coal from the Justice-owned WV-3 surface mine in Logan County began flowing to the 2,933-megawatt power plant at the beginning of this year. It was a big deal…
