Oil, gas lawsuit to be heard in court

A lawsuit brought by Annapolis and Anne Arundel County against major oil and gas companies will be heard in state court, a federal appeals court ruled.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, released Feb. 26, remands the lawsuit from federal to state court as requested by the plaintiffs.

In February 2021, the City of Annapolis filed a lawsuit against 26 oil and gas companies for what it called the costs and consequences of climate change. The lawsuit names some of the biggest fossil fuel companies including Exxon Mobile, Chevron, BP and Shell. The initial lawsuit argued the companies violated the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and five other actions including public and private nuisance, negligence, failure to warn and trespass.

The city’s suit was filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. The companies appealed that, saying it should be heard in federal court. The appeals court sided with the city.

“We appreciate the court’s analysis and couldn’t agree more with Judge Heytens, who wrote for the unanimous panel opinion,” said Annapolis City Attorney Michael Lyles in a statement.

A motions hearing is scheduled for the case on Friday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court before Judge Steven I. Platt.

In April 2021, two months after Annapolis’ lawsuit, Anne Arundel County filed a similar lawsuit to hold the companies financially responsible for the effects of climate change and attempts to cover up the truth about its impacts on the environment.

Both local governments are represented by Sher Elding LLP, the California-based law firm, that represents states, cities, public agencies and businesses in environmental lawsuits, according to its website. Sher Elding LLP was also hired in 2018 to represent the City of Baltimore in a similar lawsuit. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the Baltimore case to decide whether the case would be heard in federal or state court, where the suit was originally filed, because Baltimore was specifically harmed.

In January, Annapolis was hit by historic floods in the downtown area. cq comment=” to the downtown area” . It was the city’s thirdworst flooding incident.

To make the city more resilient to these weather events, the city is undertaking a project that will cost around $88 million to completely reimagine City Dock. Site plans for the project were revealed in September. The project includes recently approved site plans for a City Dock park and a system of flood barriers around Ego Alley. It also will turn the pay-to-park area from Craig Street to Susan Campbell Park into a raised earthen berm to hold back flood waters. The flood barrier system will extend from beyond the Naval Academy property, bordering Ego Alley and stopping at the proposed Donner Park.

In November, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley and other city, county and state officials also traveled to the Netherlands for a fact-finding visit on the best practices on resiliency and alternative transportation. One practice the city has adopted is the use of accordion-like barriers that can block flood waters. These barriers were utilized during the flood surge in January and kept Compromise Street open for a bit longer. The barriers were also used to hold back nuisance flooding that occurred at the beginning of February.