Attorney General JB McCuskey demanded a decade’s worth of documents from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and 350.org, the latest of his efforts to use the power of his office to pressure climate groups and protect fossil fuel industries.
The groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against McCuskey after the attorney general subpoenaed them in September.
The environmental advocacy organizations allege in their lawsuit that the subpoenas are intended to silence groups that McCuskey doesn’t like and to “otherwise harass and retaliate against groups to which he and his allies are politically opposed.”
“This investigatory subpoena from our state’s Attorney General is nothing more than a fishing expedition intended to stifle our collective voice in our advocacy for clean water, protected public lands, and healthy communities,” West Virginia Rivers Executive Director Jennie Smith said in a press release.
The attorney general’s office is investigating alleged deceptive practices by the organizations and possible violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
The West Virginia Rivers Coalition and 350 said they hardly sell any merchandise in West Virginia, and never deceptively.
They asked the court to end the investigations before the Nov. 2 due date on the subpoenas to protect their constitutional rights.
McCuskey said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation, according to Aimee Cantrell, deputy communications director.
Defending West Virginia’s fossil fuel industries
McCuskey has repeatedly used his office to defend extraction industries like coal, oil and gas against environmental regulation and public health protections.
“We finally have common sense driving energy policy on the national level, but radical state and local governments are now stepping in to continue the war on coal,” reads a statement on the attorney general’s website. “We cannot allow this to happen.”
Last year, just after taking office, McCuskey successfully called for the removal of a climate science chapter from a reference manual federal courts turn to as a resource on scientific evidence. The removed section had already been cited in more than 1,700 opinions.
In October 2025, McCuskey signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, saying officials must oppose anti-coal environmentalist groups because utility prices are so high. He said the use of more coal, natural gas and oil would solve the reliability and affordability crisis, but environmental groups were blocking that solution.
In February of that year, he filed a lawsuit over New York’s Climate Superfund Act, saying it aimed to impose billions in fines on energy-producing states like West Virginia. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York struck the act down in August, declaring it was unenforceable.
The attorney general has filed additional lawsuits that prioritize other extraction industries over public health.
In August, McCuskey alleged the Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality regulation under former President Joe Biden harmed manufacturers and wouldn’t improve public health. Particulate matter in air pollution is linked to heart attacks, neurological problems, cognitive decline and more.
In December, 22 states sued the EPA over its cancellation of a Biden-era solar power program for low-income households. West Virginia didn’t join the lawsuit, despite receiving $106 million from the program.
Nonprofits say fulfilling McCuskey’s subpoena would “drown” them
In his subpoena, McCuskey demanded documents, from press releases to emails between colleagues, from both groups.
Both groups rely on donations and grants. McCuskey wants to know the identities of organizational donors.
Appalachian Mountain Advocates, the legal team representing West Virginia Rivers and 350, argues that the subpoena did not identify any deceptive practices.
Smith said in her included comment in the lawsuit that she believes at least five other nonprofits face similar subpoenas.
She said West Virginia Rivers staff has faced threats and doesn’t want that to happen to their donors, some of whom have asked to remain anonymous, if their identities are revealed.
Smith said that the subpoenas have burdened them financially and will continue to harm them if they are not stopped.
She said, “It would drown us.”
