Nine AGs Filed Amicus Brief in Support of Baltimore’s Efforts to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for Climate Impacts

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh led a coalition of nine attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of the City of Baltimore in its lawsuit to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the costly impacts of climate change. In their brief, the attorneys general emphasized that many of the harms caused by climate change are felt and paid for at the state and local level, and urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to uphold a federal district court’s decision to remand the litigation to state court. In a statement announcing the amicus brief, AG Frosh stressed that the oil companies’ irresponsible conduct has exacerbated sea-level rise, extreme temperatures and public health threats that “take a toll at the local level,” and emphasized that states and local governments “have an undeniable role in protecting our natural resources and the health of our residents from the damage being done by fossil fuel companies.”