Hawaii Sues Oil Industry for Causing Climate Change—But Spares State's Largest Refiner Whose Executives Donate to Dems

Democratic Gov. Josh Green says lawsuit is about holding oil industry "accountable"

by Thomas Catenacci, Washington Free Beacon, May 9, 2025

The State of Hawaii filed a major lawsuit against a dozen major oil companies and the nation's largest oil industry group, accusing them of marketing and selling products that have caused higher temperatures, increased sea levels, more frequent flooding, coastal erosion, and more intense heat waves.

But Hawaii's sprawling complaint—which prosecutors hope will force oil industry defendants to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages—excluded Houston-based Par Pacific and its subsidiary Par Hawaii, the oil company that operates Hawaii's sole petroleum refinery and remains the state's leading supplier of gasoline and jet fuel. That means prosecutors spared a company that is likely the single largest driver of the emissions in the state.

The complaint makes just one reference to Par's Hawaii refinery, chastising ExxonMobil for supplying crude oil to the facility that is then "refined on Hawaii and distributed to consumers." In addition to ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute, BP, Chevron, Shell, Equilon Enterprises, Sunoco, Aloha Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Woodside Energy Hawaii, BHP Hawaii are all listed as defendants.

Par and its executives, meanwhile, have a recent history of donating to Democratic campaigns in the state, something that may explain Par's exclusion. Since 2018, Par and its executives have wired at least $45,100 to Hawaii Democrats, including Gov. Josh Green (D.), who received more donations from the company than any other politician in that time span, a Washington Free Beacon review of campaign finance filings found.

The decision to spare Par from Hawaii's lawsuit raises serious questions about political favoritism and the role the company's donations to Green and other state Democrats may have played. And, more broadly, it may delegitimize the lawsuit and Green's own comments surrounding it.

"The climate crisis is here, and the costs of surviving it are rising every day," Green said after his administration filed its complaint.

"The burden should fall on those who deceived and failed to warn consumers about the climate dangers lurking in their products," he continued. "This lawsuit is about holding those parties accountable, shifting the costs of surviving the climate crisis back where they belong, and protecting Hawaii citizens into the future."

As for the complaint itself, it blames defendants and their products for causing global warming, which leads to "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." It fails to explain how the oil industry defendants selected are more to blame than Par.

Overall, of the $45,100 Par and its executives gave to Hawaii Democrats since 2018, more than half came from the company's political action committee. The only contributors to the company's PAC are its board members and executives, and it regularly funnels money to its Hawaii operation, according to federal records.

Current Par Pacific president and CEO William Monteleone, former Par Pacific CEO and current board member William Pate, Par Hawaii president Eric Wright, and Par Hawaii director of government affairs Marc Inouye gave about $21,000 more directly to Hawaii Democrats.

And the donations largely flowed to Green who received $16,500, or more than a third of the donations—Monteleone, Pate, and Wright each wrote check worth thousands of dollars to Green's campaign. Green's top deputy, Lieutenant Gov. Sylvia Luke (D.), received $5,000, the second-largest sum of donations the company and its executives gave to a Hawaii politician since 2018.

Honolulu mayor Rick Blangiardi (D.), former Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D.), former Honolulu City Council chairman Ikaika Anderson (D.), former Honolulu City Council member Donovan Dela Cruz (D.), and former Hawaii state House speaker Scott Saiki (D.) are among the several other politicians to receive significant donations from Par.

"Hawaiian climate hypocrisy is on full display," Jason Isaac, the CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Free Beacon. "While Democrats posture about taking on 'Big Oil,' they’re shielding Par Hawaii—a top fossil fuel donor to their own party—from climate lawsuits."

Isaac noted also that the state's chief justice, who may adjudicate the case in the future, has ties to a left-wing group that trains judges on how to rule on climate litigation. "The conflict of interest is glaring, and it exposes just how politically rigged this climate crusade has become," he added.

"Make no mistake, these public nuisance lawsuits are the left’s current best plan for how they can reshape American society despite having no levers of power in Washington," O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers and former Arizona solicitor general, told the Free Beacon. "States like Hawaii intend to use these lawsuits, and others like them, to bypass the halls of Congress and impose a version of the Green New Deal through the courtroom, punishing disfavored industries and diverting money to left-wing priorities."

"This is horrible for hard working Americans who just want to make their own choices about what products to purchase and have cheap, reliable energy to power their way of life and support their family," he continued.

Green's administration hired California-based Sher Edling to spearhead the state's litigation against the oil industry. Sher Edling's involvement is notable because it is already involved in similar climate litigation filed by several other Democratic-led states like California, Minnesota, and Rhode Island as well as more than a dozen cities and counties, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, which altogether are home to more than 25 percent of Americans.

Sher Edling notably represents Honolulu and the County of Maui, Hawaii, in their respective climate lawsuits. Those lawsuits also fail to name Par a defendant, the Free Beacon previously reported.

Sher Edling—which left-wing dark money groups have given millions of dollars—was founded in 2016 for the sole purpose of taking up such cases. It began filing the lawsuits shortly thereafter and around the time Par began ramping up its donations to Hawaii Democrats.

Green, Par Pacific, and Sher Edling did not respond to requests for comment.