HAWAIʻI CONDEMNS ADMINISTRATION’S ILLEGAL ATTEMPT TO INTERFERE WITH STATE LAWSUIT AGAINST BIG OIL

Hawaiʻi Sues Fossil Fuel Interests for Climate Deception

(NOTE: Your beloved editor spent about 20 minutes debunking this news release.  See remarks in parenthesis.)

News Release 2025-59 from Office of Attorney General, May 1, 2025

HONOLULU – Attorney General Anne Lopez condemns the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi on April 30, 2025, seeking to preemptively halt a separate lawsuit against Big Oil companies for their deceptive conduct leading to the current climate crisis:

(REALITY: Deceptive hysterics by the environmental movement create the artificial sense of 'crisis.')

Attorney General Lopez said: “We have an obligation to the people of Hawaiʻi, to do everything in our power to fight deceptive practices from these fossil fuel companies that erode Hawaiʻi’s public health, natural resources and economy. The federal lawsuit filed by the Justice Department attempts to block Hawaiʻi from holding the fossil fuel industry responsible for deceptive conduct that caused climate change damage to Hawaiʻi.”

(REALITY: "Sher-Edling gives a lot of money to the national Democrats and we must reward them.")

Governor Josh Green, M.D. states: “Hawaiʻi suffered a devastating climate-driven, wildfire-initiated disaster on Maui that resulted in the tragic loss of 102 lives and billions of dollars in damage. This climate-related wildfire was the deadliest in United States history in more than a century.” 

(REALITY:  Anybody who identifies a specific weather event as evidence of global warming is a fraud.)

“The use of the United States Department of Justice to fight on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is deeply disturbing and is a direct attack on Hawaiʻi’s rights as a sovereign state,” added Attorney General Lopez. “The state of Hawaiʻi will not be deterred from moving forward with our climate deception lawsuit. My department will vigorously oppose this gross federal overreach.”

(TRANSLATION: We will proceed in Hawaii's grotesquely politicized state courts until such time as the federal courts order us to cease and desist.)

Notwithstanding the federal lawsuit, Governor Josh Green M.D., and Attorney General Lopez today announced a lawsuit against fossil fuel companies for their deceptive conduct and failure to warn about their products’ climate change danger, now harming Hawaiʻi’s public health, infrastructure, natural resources and economy. The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.

(See? Told you.)

“The climate crisis is here, and the costs of surviving it are rising every day,” said Governor Green. “Hawaiʻi taxpayers should not have to foot that bill. The burden should fall on those who deceived and failed to warn consumers about the climate dangers lurking in their products. This lawsuit is about holding those parties accountable, shifting the costs of surviving the climate crisis back where they belong, and protecting Hawaiʻi citizens into the future.”

(REALITY: If 'big oil' is made to pay Sher-Edling and Hawaii for 'climate change,' consumers' fuel costs will go up.  This is an attempt to impose a judicially-mandated fuel tax.  Money comes out of your pocket and into the State treasury.)

The state’s lawsuit names seven groups of affiliated fossil fuel companies and the American Petroleum Institute, the largest oil and gas trade association in the United States. It alleges seven causes of action against all defendants, including violations of Hawaiʻi’s Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices Statute, failure to warn, harm to public trust resources, public and private nuisance, trespass, and negligence. The lawsuit also alleges civil aiding and abetting against the American Petroleum institute.

(REALITY: Parr Pacific, operator of Hawaii's only oil refinery, is not named because this is a politically-motivated sham lawsuit designed to fleece only outsiders.)

“These defendants had a duty to warn people about the climate dangers associated with their products, or to mitigate those dangers. But they did neither of those things,” said Attorney General Lopez. “Instead, they put profits ahead of people and facilitated the increased use of their dangerous products through decades of deceptive conduct. They violated Hawaiʻi law, harmed all Hawaiʻi residents, and will now be held accountable in a Hawaiʻi court.”

(REALITY: The oil industry launched in 1859 with 'Drake's Well' at Titusville, PA.  Big Oil's first act was to save the whales.  Kerosene quickly replaced boiled whale blubber for home lighting.  Whales should counter sue Sher-Edling for genocide.) 

The lawsuit filed today details the history of defendants’ deceptive conduct, and many of the resulting harms inflicted on the state of Hawaiʻi as a result of that conduct. Some key excerpts from the complaint filed today:

• “Climate change has already impacted and will continue to harm Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices including upland forest practices, traditional agriculture, and coastal and nearshore marine practices.” (para 274)

(REALITY:  Anybody who identifies a specific weather event as evidence of global warming is a fraud.)

• “As of 2021, 66 state-owned facilities have reported flooding from sea level rise and precipitation. These facilities include public housing complexes in Kāneʻohe, the Hulihe‘e Palace historic site, and the Kauaʻi and Oʻahu Community Correctional Centers.” (para 280)

(IQ Test: Did you notice how 'precipitation' is slipped into that sentence?  'Climate Change' now makes it rain and causes 66 leaky roofs.)

• “Moreover, 70 percent of the state’s beaches have already experienced erosion, and 13 miles of beach have been lost across the islands. These impacts will continue to worsen as the sea level rises further. By 2050, NOAA predicts that more than 90 percent of the state’s beaches will be receding.” (para 280)

(REALITY:  All of Hawaii's shorelines have been eroding since the moment they broke through the surface of the ocean.  This process starts with Kauai six million years ago.  Molokai used to be a lot larger, but the northern half fell off.  Anybody who cites shoreline erosion as evidence of sea-level rise is a fraud.  Per NOAA, the sea level rise measured at Honolulu is 1.54mm per year.  That is six inches in a century.)

• “Climate impacts threaten Hawaiʻi water resources. As rainfall levels decline, Hawaiʻi will have decreasing access to freshwater... By 2030, the state may suffer from a freshwater shortfall of 100 million gallons per day.” (para 292)

(KEY WORD: 'May.'  REALITY:  Anybody who identifies a specific weather event as evidence of global warming is a fraud.)

• “Climate change increases the threat of wildfires for Hawaiʻi. The 2023 Maui wildfires were the deadliest in modern U.S. history and the worst natural disaster in the history of the state. More than 100 lives were lost, and more than 2,200 structures were destroyed, causing $5.5 billion of damage.” (para 294)

(REALITY:  Anybody who identifies a specific weather event as evidence of global warming is a fraud.  The Lahaina fire was caused by two of Hawaii's most politically-connected old boy institutions: HECO and KSBE.  This lawsuit, and the Hawaii Legislative Resolution urging Lahaina insurers to subrogate by suing big oil, are just shams designed to protect entrenched local interests.)

• “Climate change has, and will continue to have, constant, widespread, and severe impacts to the physical health of Hawaiʻi residents. Rising temperatures and intense heat waves, extreme weather events, related disruptions to health and emergency services, and increased proliferation of vector-borne disease and pathogens will and has already taken its toll.” (para 311)

(CLUE: Environmentalism is a religion.  Just like some other religions, they've got plagues of disease and boils, water turning to blood, gnats, locusts and frogs.  The First Amendment says: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.')

The lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks relief in the form of compensatory, punitive, and natural resource damages; civil penalties; disgorgement of profits; and an order enjoining Defendants from engaging in the unfair or deceptive acts or practices described in the lawsuit, among others.

(REALITY:  We're in State Court because we can win anything against outsiders there.)

A copy of the complaint as filed can be found here.

* * *

BACKGROUND: 

2023: Rectenwald Worked With Environmental Group Tied To Oil Plaintiffs’ Lawyers

2025: Hawaii Democrats Talk a Big Game on the 'Climate Crisis.' They're Also Shielding an Oil Company Whose Execs Backed Their Campaigns 

2025: SCR198: Screwed out of Subrogation, Insurers Urged to Serve Legislature's Agenda by Suing Big Oil