West Virginia's attorney general said on Thursday he has sued New York state over a new law requiring fossil fuel companies to contribute $75 billion over 25 years into a state fund that will pay for damage caused by climate change.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York was sued on Thursday by 22 other U.S. states over a new law requiring fossil fuel companies to contribute $75 billion over 25 years into a fund that will pay for damage caused by climate change.

West Virginia and nearly two dozen other states are suing to block a New York climate law that requires fossil fuel companies to pay $75 billion over 25 years to mitigate damage from future climate disasters in the state, arguing that the measure is unconstitutional and creates a “slippery slope” for corporations.

West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said Thursday he is leading a coalition of 22 attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging New York State's Climate Superfund Act, a recently signed state law that McCuskey said attack's America's energy suppliers.

West Virginia and nearly two dozen other states sued New York over plans to charge fossil fuel companies $75 billion for climate change damage, saying the measure is an unconstitutional “slippery slope.

Twenty-two states sued New York on Thursday, contending that a new law forcing a small group of major energy producers to pay $75 billion into a fund to cover climate change damage is unconstitutional.

The Climate Change Superfund Law, which the lawsuit aims to block, would require the largest fossil fuel companies to pay a combined $75 billion over 25 years to cover a portion of the damage wrought by climate change on New York State.

Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is joining other Republican states in opposing a New York law that could affect West Virginia’s coal and natural gas industry. In his first press conference in the law library at the Attorney General’s Office in the State Capitol Building on Thursday,

The lawsuit, filed in Albany, lists state Attorney General Letitia James and other officials as defendants.

The lawsuit challenges a new law that mandates major energy producers to contribute $75 billion to a fund aimed at addressing climate change damage.