Some local groups and lawmakers are opposing federal legislation meant to protect oil companies.
The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi produced a letter signed by 55 local organizations to the state's Congressional delegation urging it to oppose the bills. It also held a "no immunity for big oil" rally Friday on Oʻahu as part of a national movement against the measures.
The Republican-sponsored bills aim to provide a "liability shield" for the oil industry, protecting it from lawsuits that would hold it accountable for decades of climate change-related damages related to fossil fuel use.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents Hawaiʻi's Second Congressional District said those impacts are being felt on the islands already.
“Rising seas threaten our roads, our homes and critical infrastructure. Droughts put our farms and food at risk. Wildfires and floods have devastated communities across our state," Tokuda said. "This is not a hypothetical for us in the Pacific. This is not just 'bad weather,' as I've heard my colleagues call it. This is what happens when you treat our environment, Mother Nature, like a commodity, and put corporate profits ahead of our people.”
Some have already been filed by Hawaiʻi's government, including the state and Honolulu and Maui counties, alleging oil companies have lied about the impacts of fossil fuels.
The letter presented to Tokuda and the other Hawaiʻi members of Congress said that if passed, the bills could harm the state's legal actions against the oil industry.
"If successful, these efforts could block existing and new legal action against the fossil fuel industry over climate damages, void climate superfund laws that have been passed and introduced in states across the country, and prevent state-level regulation of greenhouse gasses and climate change," the letter said.
Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto, who among others has been critical about Gov. Josh Green and his administration's push for liquid natural gas to produce electricity in the state, said it could also harm the lawsuits against oil companies.
"We as a state … we built our lives around fossil fuels, and the argument is that had we known the truth about the degree of harm that would be caused, we would not have made those same investments," Iwamoto said at the rally. "How can we make that one of our legal arguments while the governor is saying, 'Let's bring in more LNG. Let's bring in more fossil fuels to emit carbon.' It undermines our legal argument."
