§36-2-9. Sale or lease of timber, oil, gas, coal or other minerals.
If the property sought to be sold or leased under the provisions of this article is gas, oil, or other volatile or fugitive substance, and it shall clearly appear that such substance is being, or in danger of being, withdrawn or drained away through other lands and so wasted and lost, to the injury of any person who has any interest in such substance; or if the property to be sold or leased is timber, and it shall clearly appear that such timber is ripe and will decay or deteriorate if not cut within a short time, or that, because of the fact that the timber upon neighboring lands is being cut or is about to be cut, and that, if the timber sought to be conveyed is not cut at the same time as, or in connection with, the timber upon such neighboring lands, it will be difficult and less profitable to sell or convey it at any other time, and that, on account of these circumstances, such timber will probably deteriorate in value unless it is sold or leased immediately; or if the property to be sold or leased is coal, or other mineral of fixed location, and it shall clearly appear that, because of the fact that the coal or other mineral under the surrounding or adjoining lands is being mined or is about to be mined, and that if the coal or other mineral sought to be sold or leased is not mined or produced at the same time as, or in connection with, the coal or other mineral under the surrounding lands, it will be difficult and less profitable to mine or produce it at any other time, and that on account of these circumstances such coal or other mineral will probably deteriorate in value unless it is sold or leased immediately; then, although any person in being having a vested estate or vested interest in such oil, gas, or other volatile or fugitive substance, or in the lands in which the same are contained, or in such timber, coal, or other minerals, does not consent as aforesaid, the court may decree the sale or lease of such property, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding section of this article: Provided, That no conveyance or lease of the timber, oil, gas, coal, or other minerals mentioned in this section, made by an owner in fee simple absolute, before the creation of the estates mentioned in section one of this article, shall be divested by any proceeding under this article: Provided further, That the consent of no holder of any lien or encumbrance created since the twenty-second day of May, nineteen hundred and eleven, shall be necessary to any sale, lease, or mining lease, or any decree thereof under this article.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session