Maryland’s supreme court rejected several local climate lawsuits on March 24, upholding the view of lower state courts that the suits were a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the legislative process and the voting public, and craft national energy policy through litigation.
The lawsuits were filed against 26 oil and gas companies, including BP and Chevron, by the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as Anne Arundel County. They charged that the defendants had created a nuisance and failed to warn Marylanders that products made from fossil fuels caused global warming, rising sea levels, and bad weather.
