Photo by Steven Allen Adams Gov. Jim Justice addresses concerns raised by recent stories regarding a lawsuit between one of his companies and FirstEnergy Resources, the owners of Pleasants Power Station.

WILLOW ISLAND — Gov. Jim Justice called stories citing a lawsuit between one of his companies and FirstEnergy Solutions, the owners of Pleasants Power Station, an attack on his honor during a bill signing Tuesday for a $12.5 million tax break to keep the station open.

Justice was at Pleasants Power Station Tuesday to sign House Bill 207, granting FES a business and occupation tax break officials said was needed to keep the plant open past a May 2022 deactivation date.

During his remarks, Justice took time to address recent articles about a lawsuit brought by FES — a spin-off of FirstEnergy Corp. As part of a chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed in March 2018, FES filed suit in December 2018 against Bluestone Energy Resources, a company owned by Gov. Justice and managed by his son Jay, to collect $3.1 million allegedly owed to FES for coal stockpiles Bluestone agreed to buy back.

“You’ve got a couple of news articles that have come out that have basically suggested that Jim Justice has a lawsuit out there with (FES), so there is some level of impropriety that went on,” Justice said. “That was the driver in all the effort to push (HB 207) through and get this thing done. It’s an incredible insult to me. It’s an incredible insult to my honor, but it’s also an insult to (FES).”

“I’ll never ever do anything for me over the goodness of our state and especially you,” Justice continued. “There’s not one cell in me that knew anything about a lawsuit that existed with my companies. Maybe I should have known.”

In a court order released Tuesday morning, Judge Christopher Boyco with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio dismissed a motion by Bluestone Energy Resources for withdrawal of the bankruptcy reference. The case is currently in the discovery phase.

“Bluestone Energy Sales Corp. has not met its burden of demonstrating the reference should be withdrawn,” Boyco wrote. “The motion for withdrawal of bankruptcy reference…is untimely, premature and therefore, denied.”

The Governor’s Office confirmed last week that staff were unaware of the lawsuit. An attorney for Bluestone and a representative for Justice’s companies pushed back last week on the lawsuit story. Justice said Tuesday that stories like this hurt the state.

“I’m built on honor. I will live and die on honor,” Justice said. “I can’t stand when someone whose honor is disputed and disrespected.”

“West Virginians, in my opinion, are built on honor,” Justice continued. “That’s really, really my life. That’s my whole being. I challenge you every day to find something I’ve ever told you that’s not the truth. I make mistakes, but I’ll never ever tell you something that’s not the truth.”

After the bill signing, Justice said that anyone who uses the stories to claim that he has a conflict of interest is playing politics.

“If they’re going to sit back and tell lies, then that’s what they need to do,” Justice said. “They just need to keep telling lies, because that’s all it is — a bald-faced lie.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.