CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals agreed Thursday to review a lower court decision to allow drilling in Chief Logan State Park despite a state ban on natural resource extraction in state parks.

The five-justice court unanimously voted to take up the case, which pits Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. of Houston and the Lawson heirs against the state Department of Natural Resources. Cabot is suing DEP because agency officials denied five natural gas well permits within the park.

Cabot has leased mineral rights beneath the park from the heirs of the Lawson family, which was the original owner of the property. The Lawsons donated the land to the state in 1960 under the stipulation they retained the oil and gas rights underneath it.

Some years after the transaction took place, state lawmakers passed a law preventing the Division of Natural Resources from allowing natural resources extraction in state parks. DEP denied the permits, citing the law.

Cabot sued, and Circuit Court Judge Roger Perry ruled in 2009 there was no legal precedent that authorizes DEP to use the provision to deny well permits. He also concluded that denial was inappropriate because the state had entered into a contract with the Lawsons before the law was in place.

The Supreme Court will reconsider the state’s appeal of Perry’s decision. No date for oral arguments has been set.