CHARLESTON — Attorney General John B. McCuskey has joined a coalition of 25 states in filing a brief opposing lawsuits that would impose massive liability on energy companies based on allegations of climate change.

Three local governments in Maryland seek to use their courts to regulate the production, sale, and use of oil and gas anywhere in the world. Filed in the Supreme Court of Maryland, the Alabama-led brief urges dismissal of the three cases, which pose a direct threat to West Virginia’s sovereignty and economic wellbeing.

“We finally have common sense driving energy policy on the national level, so now, these radical state and local governments are stepping in to continue the war on coal. We cannot allow this to happen. I am proud to stand with this coalition to defend our energy producers and to protect the energy independence of this great country,” Attorney General McCuskey said.

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.

West Virginia joined Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming on the brief led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.