Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. filed a lawsuit against Central West Virginia Energy Co. (CWVEC), a subsidiary of Massey Energy Co., alleging substantial monetary damages.

The suit charges CWVEC with breaching its long-term coal supply agreement beginning in late 2003 and continuing to the present, causing Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel to purchase coal on the spot market at significantly higher prices than under its agreement with CWVEC.

"Massey's flagrant disregard of its long-term coal supply agreement has caused millions in dollars of damages to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel's business and dramatically increased the cost of our coke oven repair program," said James G. Bradley, Chairman and CEO. "A reliable supply of properly blended coal is critical to our Coke Plant's operations and to the future of this company. This lawsuit is necessary to enforce a critically important contract to this company's future, and to protect our 3,400 employees who have sacrificed to rebuild Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel into a successful company in a very competitive steel industry."

CWVEC has supplied Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel with high volatile metallurgical coal since 1993. In 2002, during Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel's bankruptcy process, an amended coal supply agreement was signed and approved by the bankruptcy court that extended this requirements contract through 2010. As part of that agreement, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel agreed to pay Massey its pre-petition receivable of $7.2 million in 60 equal monthly installments, as well as increase the base price it paid for Massey's coal. If it had not been assumed, Massey, as an unsecured creditor, would have received a minimal percentage of this amount.

"Without a highly-reliable supply of properly blended coal, our coke batteries were not able to provide us with enough coke to keep our blast furnace operations running at production levels necessary to service the steel market," Bradley said. "More importantly, our coke batteries, which are continuous, 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operations, were damaged because of Massey's diversion of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel's contracted coal to the spot market."

"We tried to work with the leadership of Massey Coal to resolve these issues, but without any success," Bradley noted. "While we have been reluctant to file this suit, we believe we have a strong case and are determined to demonstrate Massey unlawfully avoided its contractual obligations, costing this company millions of dollars in added expense, millions of dollars in damage to our coke plant and threatening the future of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel."

CWVEC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Massey Metallurgical Coal, Inc., and it is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Massey Energy, the nation's largest producer of metallurgical coal. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., Massey Energy has operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, and is the fourth largest coal company in the United States based on produced coal revenue.

Wheeling-Pittsburgh is a steel company engaged in the making, processing and fabrication of steel and steel products using both integrated and electric arc furnace technology. The company's products include hot rolled and cold rolled sheet and coated products such as galvanized, pre-painted and tin mill sheet. The company also produces a variety of steel products including roll formed corrugated roofing, roof deck, floor deck, bridgeform and other products used primarily by the construction, highway and agricultural markets.