Hawaii Governor Josh Green officially announced plans to sue oil and gas companies for alleged climate damages, just months after his administration endorsed liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a critical tool to reduce emissions and keep energy costs down. [emphasis, links added]
In a Monday interview, Gov. Green listed off the wildfire damage settlements Hawaii had already received from the state itself – the County of Maui, Hawaii Telecom, and other entities, before suggesting it would also be “nice” to extract a payout from oil companies:
“It would have been nice to have a couple billion extra dollars from the fossil fuel companies…” (emphasis added)
The state’s push to turn lawsuits into a revenue stream was laid bare in a recent Hawaii County hearing, where a local official described potential climate litigation as “another source of funding.”
The hypocrisy is thick.
Hawaii – the most petroleum-dependent state in the entire nation – has built its economy, tourism, and power grid on fossil fuels, including LNG, which its own energy office recently called essential for reducing emissions and keeping costs down.
Yet now, the state seeks to punish the very industry it relies on to keep the lights on and sustain its economy.
Three Key Questions
As Hawaii gears up to file its climate lawsuit, here are the key questions reporters and policymakers should ask:
1. Won’t this lawsuit simply drive energy prices higher?
The state of Hawaii’s new lawsuit is sure to win applause from radical climate activists, but it’s Hawaii’s residents who will ultimately pay the price – literally.
Plaintiffs in similar climate lawsuits across the country say legal action against energy producers is intended to raise costs and reduce consumption.
And costs borne from these frivolous cases don’t fall on the companies alone – they get passed on to consumers in the form of higher fuel, electricity, and transportation costs.
Take it from an attorney representing Boulder in a similar climate case, who said as much in 2020:
“Whether that’s cutting back on the harmful activities, and/or to raise the price of the products that are causing those harmful effects so that if they are continuing to sell fossil fuels, that the cost of the harms of those fossil fuels would ultimately get priced into them.”>
That’s not exactly subtle. The goal of cases like Hawaii’s is to increase gas prices and energy costs.
For a state like Hawaii, already burdened with the highest energy prices in the nation, frivolous climate lawfare only threatens to make life even more unaffordable for working families and small businesses.
2. Will Hawaii enlist a shady “dark money” law firm to handle its climate lawsuit?
Sher Edling – a shady law firm under Congressional investigation – is already representing Maui and Honolulu in their respective lawsuits against oil and natural gas companies.
The firm first began pitching climate lawsuits in the state alongside UCLA Law Professor Ann Carlson in 2019 at an event hosted at the University of Hawai’i Richardson School of Law and sponsored by the Rockefeller-backed Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Given that Sher Edling is presently under congressional investigation for its dark-money funding sources, the public deserves to know if the State of Hawaii plans to enlist the embattled law firm.
3. Will the Hawaii legislature continue to throw spaghetti at the wall and advance other redundant bills to extract even more money from oil companies?
In addition to lawsuits from Maui, Honolulu, and soon the entire state, legislators are also attempting to extract cash from American energy companies by introducing a climate “superfund” bill and legislation to allow individuals and insurers to sue oil and natural gas companies (similar to recently failed legislation in California).
As Hawaii’s climate lawsuits stack up, it will be telling to see whether Hawaii officials drop their legislative proposals, or continue their campaign to “bankrupt” the oil industry, however they can.
Hawaii Imports LNG, Sues Natural Gas Producers
Hawaii’s history with climate lawsuits and climate policy is fairly incoherent, to put it mildly.
In 2019, the City and County of Honolulu and the County of Maui filed some of the first climate nuisance lawsuits against oil companies. After many years of appeals and jurisdictional battles, these cases are currently moving forward in the Hawaii state court.
At the time, Energy in Depth called out the hypocrisy of the lawsuit, as Hawaii’s tourism sector and reliance on imported goods make it highly dependent on fossil fuels.
We also pointed out the Rockefeller-funded campaign to gin up support for litigation on the island.
Then, in January 2025, Hawaii’s State Energy Office released a report on energy sources and cost-of-living issues commissioned by Governor Green.
The report affirmed that liquified natural gas is “the only near-term fuel with the potential to cost-effectively reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions during the renewable energy transition.” (emphasis added)
Now, just months after reinforcing both the climate and cost benefits of LNG, Gov. Green will pursue a climate lawsuit to fine and penalize the oil and natural gas companies that produce and export LNG to power Hawaii’s isolated grid.
Unfortunately for the island’s residents, the state’s most recent move is bound to increase energy costs, and thus the cost of living, in the Aloha State.
Bottom line: The State of Hawaii is choosing lawfare over addressing out-of-control energy costs for its residents. While Gov. Green’s move may win praise from LA tourists, Hawaii’s residents will ultimately bear the cost of these lawsuits.
Top image via KHON2 News/YouTube screencap
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