Maryland, My Maryland

It's rarely that I get to agree with something that happens in my state, but today I have to applaud our Supreme Court, Annapolis Cap Gazette, Maryland Supreme Court sides with fuel companies in climate change lawsuit

The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled Tuesday in favor of fossil fuel companies who had been sued by two Maryland cities and a county. The lawsuits had accused the companies of historically deceptive business practices that contributed to local effects of climate change. 
The opinion affirms lower courts’ dismissals of the three lawsuits separately brought by Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County and Annapolis.

State law, the court argued, has never applied to the conduct alleged by the jurisdictions and federal law is best at regulating cases of interstate pollution. The justices further found that, to the extent that the jurisdictions’ arguments were not blocked by federal law, the local governments were not able to show how state law could apply.

“We determine that the local governments, through their various state law claims, are seeking to regulate air emissions beyond their jurisdictional boundaries,” Justice Brynja Booth wrote in the main opinion.

An attorney representing the three jurisdictions did not reply to a request for comment by deadline, nor did a lawyer for the fuel companies, nor representatives from the government law office for each jurisdiction.

The three jurisdictions separately sued fossil fuel companies, starting in 2018, over the impact that greenhouse gas emissions have had on the cities and the county, seeking financial compensation. The local governments argued in briefs that the residents of the jurisdictions “suffer severe harm,” due to the effects of fossil fuels, including sea level rise and extreme heat.

The lawsuits were part of a nationwide surge of dozens of local cities and states suing fossil fuel companies over the effects of climate change. State Supreme Courts in Hawaii and Colorado have previously weighed in on the legality of such cases, with both courts siding with cities suing fossil fuel companies. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on an appeal of the Colorado case by fossil fuel companies.

It was a lovely spring day today, but a little frosty in the morning.