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
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Responds to Senate Bill Involving Pōhakuloa – Big Island Video News
(BIVN) – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) says it is in alignment with provisions in the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act dealing with military-leased lands in Hawaiʻi, including the Pōhakuloa Training Area.
In a news release, OHA said it is encouraged by the bill’s “clear movement away from condemnation and toward negotiated solutions” for the approximately 19,700 acres of state lands at Pōhakuloa, and 450 acres at Kahuku. “The process outlined is consistent with OHA’s long-standing position opposing condemnation – whether forcible or ‘friendly’ – and insisting that lands held in public trust remain in the public trust and continue benefiting Native Hawaiians and future generations of Hawaiʻi’s people.”
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee recently passed the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. The bill is expected to advance to the full United States Senate for consideration by the end of July 2026, OHA says.
In a June 12th news release, U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D, Hawaiʻi) said she voted against the NDAA. Hirono is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Ranking Member of the Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee.
“I’m proud to have secured numerous provisions in the Senate’s FY27 NDAA that invest in military readiness, Hawaii, the Indo-Pacific Region, and our servicemembers and their families, while also holding the Army accountable on the military training land lease negotiations,” Hirono stated at the time. “However, I could not in good conscience vote to advance a bill that paves the way for an up to 40% increase in year-over-year Department of Defense spending, especially as this administration wages an illegal war in Iran with no plan or end in sight.”
Hirono said the bill “directs the Secretary of the Army to seek from the State of Hawaii, on terms acceptable to both the Army and the State, a renewal of expiring training land leases. As part of this, requires the Army to expeditiously resubmit their Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for the leased lands and address deficiencies identified by the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources.”
OHA noted Section 2864 of the NDAA also requires a report to Congress on the steps and proposals taken to advance lease renewals, within 60 days from the NDAA’s enactment.
“The Senate Armed Services Committee’s action reflects meaningful progress in acknowledging Hawaiʻi’s unique legal and cultural context,” stated OHA chair Kaialiʻi Kahele. “The removal of condemnation as an option and the requirement for renewed environmental review are consistent with what OHA has long advocated – that these lands must not be permanently alienated and that Hawaiʻi’s concerns must be fully addressed in good faith. Congress appears willing to respect Hawaiʻi’s laws and institutions. The opportunity before us now is to fully embrace the responsibilities and authorities those laws entrust to us. OHA will continue to ensure Native Hawaiian rights and public trust responsibilities remain central to any future decisions.”
OHA has been holding high-level meetings in Washington, D.C. concerning the military lease renewals.
OHA says it is also actively moving forward with a comprehensive Ka Paʻakai Analysis for Pōhakuloa Training Area. “The Board of Trustees has already approved a Permitted Interaction Group allocation of $60,000 to support this work, and OHA is finalizing a memorandum of understanding with DLNR to complete the work,” the Office stated. The analysis “will help create a more complete record of the cultural, historical, and community connections to these lands, providing decision makers with information necessary to evaluate potential impacts, identify appropriate protections, and fulfill their responsibilities under Hawaiʻi law.”
From the OHA news release:
OHA also notes that the NDAA contemplates the pursuit of future lease arrangements pursuant to Section 2667 of Title 10, United States Code. As discussions continue regarding potential lease terms, community benefit commitments, land-back and lease-back models, and other components of any future agreement, OHA believes those arrangements must remain consistent with Hawaiʻi’s environmental laws and public trust obligations. Any benefits derived from renewed use of these lands should reinforce the purposes of the public trust, protect traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices, honor the history and significance of these lands, and preserve the value they were intended to provide for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries and future generations of Hawaiʻi’s people.
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Saturday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
| East Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 4-6 | 3-5 | 4-6 | 5-7 |
| Weather | Sunny until 6 PM, then partly cloudy. Scattered showers. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the lower 70s. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming northwest after midnight. |
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| Weather | Mostly sunny. Scattered showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the mid 80s. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. | |||||
|
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| Sunrise | 5:42 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 7:02 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Saturday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| South Facing | 4-6 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 4-6 |
| Weather | Mostly sunny until 6 PM, then mostly clear. Isolated showers. |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Northwest winds around 5 mph, becoming southeast in the evening, then becoming light and variable after midnight. |
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|
|||||||||
| Weather | Sunny. Isolated showers. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the upper 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | West winds around 5 mph. | ||||||||
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| Sunrise | 5:46 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 7:06 PM HST. | ||||||||
A small, medium period south swell will continue to steadily fade into Saturday, allowing surf along south and west-facing shores to drop a notch. A series of small, medium to long period south and southeast swells will fill in Saturday into the first half of next week, which will boost surf heights back near seasonal averages.
Tiny surf will prevail along north-facing shores through most of the coming week as only some limited short-period energy reaches the islands from the north. Trade winds remain lighter than normal through the weekend, keeping surf along east-facing shores below average. East shore surf will begin to trend up early next week as trade winds increase upstream and across the region.
NORTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NNW winds 5-10mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting to the WNW.
SOUTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Sideshore texture/chop with NE winds 10-15mph.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
The honor of introducing former President Barack Obama at the grand opening of his new presidential library in Chicago Thursday went to Dr. Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe of Hawaii.
Hawaii News Now reports that Lipe participated in the inaugural cohort of the Asia-Pacific Leaders Program in 2019 and is currently the principal at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama.
“Where I come from, to introduce someone means we have pilina, a connection. If this man walked into my home, my children would call him uncle because we are both keiki o ka ʻāina, children of Hawaii,” she said in her remarks.
She told those in attendance that the former president and herself are both “children of Hawaii.” Obama lived on the island and attended Punahou School and lived in Hawaii for eight years until his graduation from high school.
Lipe said being children of Hawaii carries with it a “sacred responsibility to care for those who we may never meet.”
She made reference to the resilient Hawaiian shrub, the Like a’ali’i.
“The a’ali’i thrives by being deeply rooted, resilient through storm and drought, and fiercely responsive. That is what ‘yes, we can’ means to my indigenous heart. It demands that we remain unshakably rooted in truth, resilient through trial, and so responsive that just as this plant yields its leaves for medicine, its blooms for beauty, and its timber for protection, we become the healing, the vibrance, and the shelter needed by our communities and by grandmother earth.”
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