W.Va. Attorney General Asks Maryland To Table Fee On Coal

West Virginia’s attorney general has written Maryland lawmakers to oppose a bill that would place a fee on coal transported to Maryland.

JB McCuskey asked the leaders of the Maryland House and Senate to table a bill that would charge $13 per ton of coal transported to Maryland to mitigate the impacts of coal dust.

The fee would nearly double the cost of transporting coal by rail to Maryland, McCuskey says.

“Though West Virginia supports Maryland’s efforts to solve its internal problems,” McCuskey wrote Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, “a state cannot fill its coffers at the expense of hard-working Americans miles away in other states who work to keep our lights on and houses warm.”

The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s second-leading coal export terminal, and about 14 million tons a year is transported there by rail from West Virginia.

McCuskey’s letter says the bill would run afoul of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. It also says only the federal government can regulate rail transportation.

McCuskey also implies that West Virginia would take legal action against Maryland should the bill pass. West Virginia recently sued New York over that state’s climate law.

“We hope we will not be compelled to do the same as to Maryland,” McCuskey wrote.