MORGANTOWN — After a hearing involving the lawsuit filed by Appalachian Mountain Advocates against West Virginia University over refusing a request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act it requested last November, Monongalia Circuit Judge Russell Clawges Jr. told both parties they had seven days to figure out more specific terms on which they could agree.
He did not dismiss the lawsuit, according to MetroNews.
When AMA filed the lawsuit over the summer, it said it had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to WVU on Nov. 28, 2017, according to documents provided to The West Virginia Record.
The firm requested copies of any memoranda of understanding between the state and China Energy for the time period January-November 2017. The firm also sought a list of projects between the state and China Energy and any other documents related to the China Energy deal.
The university's FOIA officer refused the request Dec. 5, 2017, stating the firm should request the documents from the West Virginia Department of Commerce instead, according to the suit.
AMA alleged the university's denial of the FOIA request was unlawful. It said the university also denied the request for being too broad, noting the documents consisted of approximately 15,000 e-mails.
WVU invoked the exception to FOIA hypothetically and failed to provide proof of "what the actual burden of producing the responsive documents would be," according to the suit.
Last year state officials announced the possible investment and, in November 2017, then-West Virginia Secretary of Commerce Woody Thrasher traveled to China and signed a memorandum of understanding related to China Energy investing in natural gas industry projects across the state.
If fulfilled, the nearly $84 billion agreement could lead to projects over a 20-year timeframe.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to produce the documents and award attorney fees.
The attorneys involved could not be reached for comment.
Monongalia Circuit Court case number: 18-C-267
