Oil Companies Mostly Fend Off Dismissal Bid From West Virginia

Two oil companies may continue their First Amendment and due process lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection over alleged retaliation for previous litigation after violation notices at their facilities.

DD Oil Co. and Drilco Oil and Gas Corp. adequately alleged that the state’s civil enforcement lawsuits were filed in retribution of their 2022 lawsuit since the WVDEP brought claims based on violations that had occurred years earlier.

Judge Thomas E. Johnston said there was “at least some temporal proximity to suggest, at this stage, that plaintiffs’ federal suit was the but-for cause of defendants’ civil enforcement suits,” ...