West Virginia’s attorney general has written to Maryland lawmakers to oppose a bill that would levy a fee on coal transported to Maryland.
JB McCuskey requested that the leaders of the Maryland House and Senate table a bill charging $13 per ton of coal transported to Maryland to mitigate the effects of coal dust.
According to McCuskey, the fee would nearly double the cost of transporting coal by rail to Maryland.
“Though West Virginia supports Maryland’s efforts to solve its internal problems,” McCuskey wrote to 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-largest coal export terminal, with approximately 14 million tons transported there by rail each year from West Virginia.
McCuskey’s letter claims that the bill violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. It also states that only the federal government can regulate rail transportation.
McCuskey also implies that West Virginia would sue Maryland if the bill passed. West Virginia recently sued New York over its climate law.
“We hope we will not be compelled to do the same as to Maryland,” McCuskey wrote in a letter.
