House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, stands at the podium in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Hanshaw has now been linked to two separate cases in which he defends data center-affiliated developers against citizen groups in air permit appeals in Tucker and Mason counties. (Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw is representing a second data center developer against a community group seeking to appeal an air quality permit previously approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection for a construction project in Mason County.
Hanshaw, an attorney with the Bowles Rice law firm, filed a lawsuit Notice of publication in the appeal to the DEP’s Air Quality Board on Feb. 12. A week later, the state House of Representatives passed laws Determining how the Department of Commerce will certify up-to-date high-performance data centers and microgrids in the state and what information developers must provide for certification.
A spokesman for Bowles Rice confirmed via email Thursday that Hanshaw is assigned to the Mason County case, where he and two other attorneys are representing developer MGS CNP1, LLC, an affiliate of Houston-based Fidelis New Energy. The West Virginia Citizen Action Group requests the appeal.
The news comes a week after Country Roads News in Tucker County. I reported that Hanshaw would defend data center developer Fundamental Data against an air quality permit appeal filed by the grassroots coalition Tucker United in the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Hanshaw began working on the case March 16, two days after the end of the 2026 regular session.
Hanshaw is currently seeking re-election to his House seat, where he represents Clay, Calhoun and Braxton counties. He has no Republican challenger for the May primary.
In Mason County, the CAG is appealing an air quality permit approved last year to build a biomass and carbon capture facility in Point Pleasant. According to public filings with the DEP, this facility — which is just one part of a very complicated campus called the Monarch Campus that has been planned by multiple companies and industries and will include data centers, among other things — plans to burn wood chips to generate electricity that cannot be sold to the grid.
Morgan King, climate manager at WV CAG, said Hanshaw’s decision to work on the Mason County case was a “massive conflict of interest.” As speaker, Hanshaw has great power in the House of Representatives, she said. He is instrumental in passing legislation such as the 2014 House Bill. the bill 2025 This launched the state’s certified microgrid and data center program.
Although it is not illegal for Hanshaw to represent organizations that could benefit from House-approved bills, King said this is alarming.
“There are a lot of laws that are permissible, but that doesn’t make them right or ethical,” King said. “This is the CAG’s biggest concern – we keep seeing these conflicts of interest that our lawmakers fail to address or resolve. [The House and Hanshaw] approved the tax credits, the relaxed regulations, the rules for [developers]. Now he works as their lead attorney.”
Ann Ali, communications director for the state House of Representatives, said Wednesday that Hanshaw could not comment on the clients he represents through his law firm.
A spokesman for Bowles Rice declined to comment for this story.
Michelle Kuppersmith, the managing director of the state watchdog group Campaign For Accountability said it was troubling to see one of West Virginia’s most senior lawmakers working on an appeal on behalf of a company that stands to benefit from the laws he passed.
“The status of state legislators as part-time employees of the state with no restrictions on their actual jobs that pay the bills results in deplorable levels of corruption. This situation appears to be no different,” Kuppersmith said. “Best practice for state legislatures is for them to set caps on outside income and also limits on the types of investments they can make to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between private jobs and investments and the very important issues they govern for the people of West Virginia. That doesn’t appear to be happening here.”
The only law on data centers while happening The 2026 legislative session was a rules package that determined how the state Department of Commerce would certify data centers and microgrids, which would qualify for an expedited regulatory process and fewer regulations generally than other developments.
In the House of Representatives, lawmakers – including Hanshaw – rejected a change to the rules that would have increased reporting requirements for developers, capped water employ, returned some power to local governments and added other guardrails to address concerns expressed by residents for the past year.
Under Regulate For the state House of Representatives, lawmakers who have a “direct personal or financial interest” in matters being voted on should request a Rule 49 ruling from the Speaker of the House or “Presiding Officer” before voting. If the legislator belongs to a group of more than five people, he or she is eligible to vote. Hanshaw has not requested a ruling under Rule 49 on the data center rule package.
King said the CAG will consider whether or not to file a complaint with the state Ethics Commission regarding Hanshaw’s involvement in the Mason County development. In Tucker County, community leaders have said they plan to do the same for its work with Fundamental Data. According to the ethics committeeState law prohibits the filing of complaints against candidates running for public office in the 60 days before an election.
“We believe Speaker Hanshaw should immediately resign from all cases he is handling related to industrial development and other developments he has pushed legislatively. He should not be their attorney,” King said. “The message that lawmakers are sending voters about all of these developments is that they will benefit, but [the developments] in reality only benefit those in power and wealthy interest groups, both within and outside the state.”
