Court OKs Drilling in Chief Logan Park

The state Supreme Court released its decision Nov. 3.

The State Journal
4 November 2010

CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has affirmed a Logan County Circuit Court decision that would allow the owners of natural gas under Chief Logan State Park to develop their mineral interest.

The court ruled on Nov. 3 that the Lawson Heirs, in deeding property in 1960 that became state parkland, retained interest in the gas rights and that state laws passed prohibiting drilling after that did not invalidate that transaction. Further, the court said state agencies, including the state Division of Natural Resources, should not block the drilling. The family had contacted with Cabot Gas to develop the gas.

“The pivotal question determinative of these consolidated appeals is this: Does the statutory provision prohibiting the DNR from authorizing mineral exploitation within West Virginia state parks, i.e., W. Va. Code § 20-5-2(b)(8), preclude the issuance of the well permits for which Cabot has applied?,” the court wrote in its decision.

“Simply stated, the answer is ‘no.’ We find that W. Va. Code § 20-5-2(b)(8) has no preclusive effect upon the requested permits herein insofar as this statutory language was enacted after the 1960 deed conveying the subject property was executed.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection had challenged the June 2009 decision of Logan County Judge Roger L. Perry. The Sierra Club Inc., West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Friends of the Blackwater and Cordie O. Hudkins, a former state parks official, joined DEP in the appeal.

“I would call this a victory,” said Larry George, a Charleston attorney, who represents the Lawson family. “It is a unanimous opinion, absent Justice (Brent) Benjamin.”

George noted the language in the court’s opinion.

“We further affirm the circuit court's order directing the DEP Office of Oil and Gas to grant Cabot the five well permits it requested to allow Cabot to develop the oil and natural gas reserves retained by the Lawson Heirs in their 1960 deed,” the court wrote.

The Lawson family deeded the land to the Logan Civic Association and reserved the right to develop the gas under the land. The association then gave the land to the Conservation Commission of West Virginia, a predecessor to the Division of Natural Resources, which now oversees state parks.