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JBK

West Virginia does not have an “academic freedom” exemption to its public records law, but certain documents about a former university researcher’s examination of mountaintop removal mining’s impacts on public health are protected from disclosure as “internal memoranda,” the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case brought by Alpha Natural Resources.

Justices concluded that “the involuntary public disclosure” of former WVU researcher Michael Hendryx’s “research documents” would “expose the decision-making process in such a way as to hinder candid discussion” by university faculty and “undermine WVU’s ability to perform its operations.”

Alpha lawyers had sued to try to force WVU to release thousands of documents related to a series of papers by Hendryx that linked mountaintop removal coal mining to increased risk of birth defects, cancer, and a variety of other illnesses among coalfield residents. Among other things, Alpha wanted copies of correspondence between Hendryx, various co-authors, and any outside organizations, such as environmental groups or scientists who peer-reviewed the Hendryx papers.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150521/GZ01/150529798/1419#sthash.rhBnFRDQ.K1767Nql.dpuf