OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Gentner Drummond is fighting to protect Oklahoma’s vital energy sector and economic sovereignty from overreaching lawsuits. Drummond joined 25 attorneys general in filing a brief with the Supreme Court of Maryland opposing lawsuits that seek to impose massive liability on energy companies based on climate change allegations.
The brief urges dismissal of three cases, which pose a direct threat to Oklahoma’s energy industry, jobs and constitutional rights as a sovereign state. Oklahoma’s economy depends heavily on energy production, and these lawsuits represent an unprecedented attempt by out-of-state local governments to control Oklahoma’s energy policies and operations.
“Oklahoma will not stand by while out-of-state local governments attempt to destroy our energy industry through frivolous lawsuits,” Drummond said. “These Maryland cases are a direct attack on Oklahoma’s sovereignty and the thousands of hardworking Oklahomans who depend on our energy sector for their livelihoods. We will defend our constitutional rights and our economic future against this blatant overreach.”
Among other arguments, the coalition brief observes that “Maryland law cannot resolve an interstate dispute without breaking fundamental principles of federalism as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Attempts to regulate the global atmosphere invade the basic power of every other state to regulate for the health and wellbeing of their own citizens.
The multistate brief is supported by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
