Six AGs Filed Amicus Brief Challenging Commerce Clause Claims in Washington Coal Export Terminal Litigation

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led a coalition of six state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s motion to dismiss Lighthouse Resources Inc.‘s Commerce Clause claims in litigation related to Washington State’s denial of water quality certifications for the construction of a coal export terminal. In their brief, the attorneys general emphasize that the Commerce Clause “respects Washington’s long-standing police power authority to make local land use decisions,” and cannot be used as a means to “override that authority in order to build an export terminal in [Lighthouse’s] preferred location.”