Hawaii
A Supreme Court case in Hawaii could raise gas costs for us all
Aloha spirit be damned, the Hawaii Supreme Court has deemed the oil industry unwelcome in the state.
In a ruling late last year, the court affirmed that the city of Honolulu could file a lawsuit alleging that Sunoco, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and an assortment of other companies have caused it injury via their products’ greenhouse gas emissions.
Now it may be up to the US Supreme Court to set the matter straight: Is climate change an area of special federal interest or can states give Big Oil the boot? If the latter, the outcome from 50 new sets of legal hoops is inevitably higher energy prices for all Americans.
Honolulu’s core claim is that the oil companies’ “efforts between 1965 and the present to deceive about the consequences of the normal use of their fossil fuel products” constitute tortious conduct.”
The chain of reasoning is that Sunoco et al have marketed and sold products that, when combusted, emit carbon dioxide and other gasses, exacerbating the greenhouse effect, warming the planet, melting glaciers, and causing sea levels to rise.
That rising water, the argument goes, has caused “historical, projected, and committed disruptions to the environment — and consequent injuries to the City.”
Honolulu’s claim underscores how difficult climate damage attribution really is. Yes, emissions add incrementally to sea level rise. But, no, we cannot attribute with confidence a portion of the cost of managing rising water to particular companies.
According to the US government’s Interagency Sea Level Task Force, the Hawaiian Islands are expected to experience 6-8 inches of sea level rise by 2050. That will surely require some coastal adaptation measures, as Honolulu says.
But what the City is slower to acknowledge is that factors other than sea level rise are playing a part in its troubles too — including its own land use and the unlucky fact that Hawaii’s volcanic geology is resulting in the islands sagging lower year by year.
Mercifully, the Supreme Court wouldn’t be weighing in on the scientific technicalities of Honolulu’s tort claim, but rather on whether Hawaii — or any other state — has climate change authority at all.
In June 2024, SCOTUS asked the Biden administration’s Solicitor General for the federal government’s opinion on the matter of federal preemption raised by the oil companies in their appeal of the Hawaii Supreme Court decision.
The appeal argues that federal law — namely the Clean Air Act — supersedes state law claims. As we near the end of the Biden presidency, a filing from the Solicitor General in favor or opposed to the Supreme Court taking up this appeal is imminent.
If SCOTUS does so, how might the justices consider the constitutional questions at hand? Related air and water pollution cases suggest the oil companies have precedent on their side.
In 1987, the Rehnquist court decided in International Paper Company v. Ouellette that the Clean Water Act preempts a common-law nuisance suit filed in a Vermont court under Vermont law, when the source of the alleged injury was located in New York.
In 2011, the Roberts court unanimously reached a similar decision in a Clean Air Act case, American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s opinion for the court then, that “it is primarily the office of Congress, not the federal courts, to prescribe national policy in areas of special federal interest,” applies today just the same.
Most recently, in 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a federal district court decision in City of New York v. Chevron that a municipality cannot “utilize state tort law to hold multinational oil companies liable for the damages caused by global greenhouse gas emissions.”
As George Mason University legal scholar Donald Kochan argues, the 2023 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that the City of Honolulu’s case could proceed creates just the kind of national legal dissonance that requires the US Supreme Court to step in.
Given the dispersed nature of the corporate actions in question, this is a federal matter, not a state matter. Hawaiians, like citizens of the other 49 states, are represented in House and Senate and can channel their political energy through federal legislation.
If this case goes forward in Hawaii, it will jeopardize the national commercial market and legal framework that makes America, despite it all, the best big country in the world for productivity, wealth creation, and widely-shared prosperity.
Jordan McGillis is the economics editor of City Journal.
Hawaii
Tourist yells ‘I’m rich’ after beachgoers beg him to stop attacking endangered seal — before he’s detained
A tourist who threw a huge rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal in Maui boasted that he didn’t care about the consequences because he’s “rich” — before he was detained over the attack.
The man was filmed lifting a large rock from a beach and throwing it towards an endangered seal as it swam off the Lahaina shoreline last Tuesday, narrowly missing the animal’s head.
Kaylee Schnitzer, who filmed the video, can be heard yelling at the man: “What are you doing? Why would you throw a rock at it?”
She later told KHON 2: “We told him that we called the cops, and he was like, ‘I don’t care. Fine me, I’m rich.’ He said that, and he kept walking.”
The Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement’s Maui Branch dispatched officers to the beach, where they detained the suspect. Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources said it will not be share the suspect’s identity as he has not been criminally charged at this time. He is understood to be a 37-year-old man from Seattle, Washington.
A viral video captured a tourist throwing a large rock at an endangered monk seal in Hawaii (KHON2)
Hawaiian monk seals are among the most endangered marine mammals in the world. Harassing, injuring or killing one is against both state and federal law, and violators may face fines or criminal penalties. The horrifying incident sparked online outrage and Schnitzer’s video went viral.
The seal, named “Lani,” is beloved by many residents in the area after returning to Lahaina following the 2023 wildfires. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen noted in an Instagram post that both members of his team and locals have “watched over and deeply cared for” Lani since her return.
“Let me be clear, this is not the kind of visitor we welcome on Maui,” Bissen said. “We welcome respectful visitors that understand that our cultural environment and wildlife must be treated with care and aloha. Behavior like this will not be tolerated.”
Monk seals are one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world (Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources)
State officials said the suspect was questioned by authorities and later released after he requested legal counsel.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources said it is investigating the incident and will turn over the findings to NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement for possible federal action. The Independent has contacted the department for more information.
During a news conference on Wednesday, the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement Chief Jason Redulla said officials have not confirmed whether the seal was harmed by the rock.
Police reminded the public to avoid interactions with the protected species and report harmful behavior to authorities.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Firefighters responded to a vehicle fire on the H-1 Freeway late Friday night.
The Honolulu Fire Department said the fire was reported around 10:40 p.m. on the H-1 eastbound, after the Kinau Street exit.
Witnesses told Hawaii News Now flames rose higher than the concrete barrier separating the eastbound and westbound lanes.
One unit with four personnel responded and quickly brought the fire under control.
The fire was extinguished, and the responding unit was cleared from the scene by 11:22 p.m.
No other details were immediately available.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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