CABOT SEEKS TO DRILL 36 WELLS IN STATE PARK - Court Case Broadened

(10/12/2009)
A judge has allowed several environmental groups and the state Division of Natural Resources to be represented into a court case over proposed natural gas drilling at Chief Logan State Park.

Cabot Oil and Gas, based in Texas, wants to drill 36 new wells on the park grounds.

Cabot says their right to drill was reserved when the property was given to the State of West Virginia for a park.

Logan County Circuit Judge Roger Perry is allowing the Highlands Conservancy, the Friends of Blackwater, the Sierra Club, former state parks chief Cordie Hudkins and the the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources to be part of the appeal process.

Judge Perry overturned the state's denial of Cabot's claim last June, allowing the wells to be drilled.

The issue will return to court.