The Supreme Court of Maryland, the highest state court in the State, has dismissed claims brought by the City of Baltimore and two other local governments against 26 multinational oil and gas companies to recover damages caused by global greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the local governments asserted five causes of action against the Defendants, all arising under Maryland law: (1) public nuisance; (2) private nuisance; (3) trespass; (4) negligent failure to warn; and (5) strict liability failure to warn.

The local governments argued that the Defendants, individually and collectively, were responsible for extracting, processing, producing, promoting, and marketing fossil fuel products, the normal and intended use of which has led to the emission of a substantial percentage of the total volume of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere for over 50 years.

The local governments contended that the Defendants “deceived consumers and the public about the dangers associated with their fossil fuel products when they knew of a direct link between their products and climate change threats, causing sea levels to rise, as well as other physical and environmental impacts, resulting in inundation, destruction, and/or other interference with the local governments’ property and citizenry.”

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the judgments of the lower courts dismissing the complaints. The Court held that the local governments’ state law claims are displaced and preempted by federal law. The Court determined that the local governments, through their state law claims, are attempting to regulate air emissions. The Court explained that, for over a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that cases involving regulations of interstate pollution arise under federal law.

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the federal Clean Air Act does not authorize the broad state law claims under its saving clause. Moreover, federal law would not extend to apply to the local governments’ claims that regulate international conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that the political branches, not the Judiciary, have the responsibility and institutional capacity to weigh foreign policy concerns such as global climate change.

The Maryland Supreme Court further held that, even if the local governments’ state law claims were not displaced or preempted by federal law, the local governments failed to state legally cognizable claims under state law for public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, and negligent and strict liability failure to warn.