CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Attorney General JB McCuskey is standing up for West Virginia’s energy workers and states’ rights in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the brief, West Virginia, Alabama and a 24-state coalition, are urging the Court to throw out a lawsuit brought by Boulder County and the City of Boulder, Colorado, against major oil and gas producers.
The amicus or “friend of the court” brief, filed in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, argues that allowing a single Colorado locality to hold the entire energy industry liable for global climate change under state law would unconstitutionally allow one jurisdiction to dictate national energy policy — and deal a devastating blow to states like West Virginia that depend on traditional energy production.
“States, cities or municipalities cannot use local laws to impose their far-left ideology on the rest of the country. This is an attempt to fill their coffers at the expense of the rest of the nation. We have fought this kind of climate warfare before and we will continue to fight it, not only to protect our energy industries, but because it’s the right and constitutional thing to do,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
This brief is the latest in a series of steps taken by Attorney General McCuskey to protect West Virginia’s energy interests. In addition to filing lawsuits against Vermont and New York over their state superfund laws, the Attorney General has led or joined coalitions to stop regulatory overreach by federal agencies and other states.
West Virginia and Alabama co-led the brief and were joined by Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Read the amicus brief here.