Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge James Stucky handed down a decision March 10 that required the Department of Environmental Protection to release talks between it and Governor Joe Manchin regarding a decision to revoke Massey Energy's permit for a coal silo at its West Virginia preparation plant.
On March 17, Manchin and the agency asked the state’s Supreme Court to throw out the decision, citing “executive privilege” against such discussions from becoming public during legal proceedings, according to the Associated Press.
“It is self-evident that for the state’s chief executive, his officers and his appointees to perform their expected functions of governance, there must be a free and frank discussion of policymaking, which includes a myriad of legal, financial and practical considerations,” said Manchin’s legal representative Chuck Bailey in the appeal documentation.
“One can only imagine the disastrous effect on the State Government if the governor’s office was subject to subpoena and discovery for every single decision of the state’s many executive agencies,” he added.
Bailey, according to the new service, filed the documentation with the Kanawha County Circuit Court, who must send it on to the state’s Supreme Court within 30 days.
Additionally, the DEP’s decision to revoke the Goals Coal permit was sustained last week by the Surface Mine Board, who previously ordered the agency to release information – including discussions with Manchin – for Massey’s appeal case. The board met over two days to hear the case.
The permit for the silo, which would have been the second at the Sundial, West Virginia plant, was originally submitted to the DEP in June 2005 but then revoked in July when the agency discovered problems with submitted maps. The plant was also the site of several anti-coal rallies by citizen groups opposing Massey, the facility and its expansion plans.
