Honolulu officials seek climate change lawsuit against oil companies

City leaders estimate that the damage to public and private property caused by sea level rise in the coming decades will result in tens of billions of dollars in damage, and they want to join other municipalities across the nation in demanding big oil companies pay fair compensation for their contributions to the problem.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Council members Joey Manahan and Ron Menor said Tuesday they want to file a lawsuit against the “fossil fuel companies” not only because of the past and future impacts caused by the businesses, but because they believe the companies knowingly kept hidden the impacts caused by their money-making practices.

Caldwell likened the legal actions being taken against the oil companies to the lawsuits against tobacco manufacturers who were found to be at fault for purposely misleading the public about the harms of cigarette use.

For decades, major oil companies knew about sea level rise and other negative impacts caused by climate change resulting from their actions, the mayor said.

“They knew about the impacts, they had studies done, they had evidence that what they were doing in terms of producing oil and emitting fluorocarbons up into the atmosphere that they would affect this climate dramatically and raise the level of the sea,” Caldwell said. “They knew, and then they covered it up by putting out disinformation so that action would not be taken.”

The nine-member Council will need to approve Resolution 19-283, which authorizes the city Department of Corporation Counsel to initiate a legal action against “fossil fuel conglomerates.” They are listed as including, but not limited to, several companies that have historical ties to Honolulu or otherwise substantially contributed to climate change by producing, promoting or selling products they knew, or should have known, would lead to environmental issues. They are Chevron, Shell, Exxon Mobil, BP, the BHP Group, ConocoPhillips, Marathon (which bought Andeavor, formerly Tesoro) and Aloha Petroleum.

Aoki said most of the cases, all of which were filed in state courts, are now under appeal by either the oil companies or the municipalities. Several California cases are now pending before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The resolution is scheduled to be heard by Menor’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee at its Tuesday meeting.

The oil companies “can and should be held legally responsible for their part in the climate change crisis we are facing,” Menor said. “This is specifically about holding fossil fuel corporations accountable for not divulging the environmentally harmful affects of climate change to the public even as they were making billions of dollars of profit and actively opposing efforts to transition our country into a clean energy economy many years ago.”

“We here don’t feel this burden should be placed on Oahu taxpayers,” Manahan said.

The Council also will need to approve a separate resolution that would allow the city to hire San Francisco- based law firm Sher Edling LLP as an expert outside counsel for the lawsuit. Sher Edling would work on a contingency basis, so the company would be paid only if the lawsuit is successful, Acting Corporation Counsel Paul Aoki said.

Maui County Mayor Mike Victorino last week announced a similar resolution to be heard by the Maui County Council.

The initiative announced by the city leaders Tuesday was supported by the national Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter.