City sues fossil fuel businesses over climate change costs

The City and County of Honolulu filed a lawsuit Monday against a long list of oil corporations in state Circuit Court, seeking damages for the mounting costs of dealing with climate change.

In doing so, Honolulu joins more than a dozen other cities and jurisdictions, including San Francisco, New York and Baltimore.

Josh Stanbro, the city’s chief resilience officer, said at a news conference Monday outside of the courthouse that the case was about holding these corporations accountable for failing to disclose important information about climate change, and having them, rather than taxpayers, pay for the damage.

“We have seen over a dozen cities and counties file complaints about the costs they are unjustly having to bear around climate change and its impacts due to the information that’s been withheld over time by the fossil fuel corporations,” said Stanbro.

Like the tobacco industry and pharmaceutical companies, Stanbro said oil corporations withheld information from the public while continuing to sell dangerous products, and that this suit was about holding them accountable.

“It’s about making sure that corporations play by the rules, disclose known problems with their products and, when they don’t do that, that they’re held accountable to cover the costs that the rest of society is having to bear, including cities and local government,” he said.

Acting Honolulu Corporation Counsel Paul Aoki filed the suit with Sher Edling LLP of San Francisco, on behalf of the city against a long list of oil corporations, all of which have historical business ties in Hawaii, including Sunoco LP, Aloha Petroleum Ltd., Mobil Corp., ExxonMobil Oil Corp., Shell Oil Co. and Chevron Corp.

The 119-page suit seeks no specified amount in damages, but Stanbro, along with Honolulu Councilman Joey Manahan, said billions of dollars are at stake.

Based on studies, Stanbro said sea-level rise of 3.2 feet on Oahu is expected to result in an estimated $12.9 billion of loss and damage to private property.

A report for the state Department of Transportation estimates it would cost about $15 billion to relocate or elevate state roads affected by sea-level rise by the end of the century.

If a Category 4 hurricane struck Oahu’s South Shore, home to Waikiki, it potentially could cost more than $30 billion in direct economic losses.

The suit also alleges that the impacts of climate change already can be felt around the isles in the form of coastal erosion, king tides, storms, floods and wildfires.

The city already has suffered from “rain bomb events” that have destroyed parts of city drain-ways, such as at the Hahaione Channel during the flood events of April 2018.

These impacts are expected to continue to get worse in coming years, according to Honolulu Department of Facility Maintenance Director Ross Sasamura.

Higher sea levels potentially will slow response times for water main break repairs, he said, due to seawater-filled trenches. In the future, the city also anticipates flooding in low-lying, interior areas through rising groundwater levels.

The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, a group representing oil companies, said the lawsuit was counterproductive and a distraction from real solutions.

“Honolulu’s decision to move forward with litigation ignores the reality that these lawsuits have nothing to do with fighting climate change and will lead only to increased costs for local residents,” said Phil Goldberg, the group’s special counsel, in a statement. “People throughout Honolulu and the entire state of Hawaii need energy to power their homes and businesses, as well as the ability to bring tourists, goods and services to the Islands. The truth is that the best way to fight climate change is to engage with the manufacturing community on the major innovations that will allow us to source and use energy more efficiently, not scapegoat the companies that manufacture the energy we all need and use every day. If Honolulu really wanted to do something about climate change it would work with manufacturers — as the overwhelming majority of communities have done — and not join this fringe litigation movement.”

But the suit says the defendants failed to warn people of the risks posed by their fossil fuel products, and that the public is behind holding them accountable.

A recent poll found 70% of Honolulu residents supported making fossil fuel companies pay for a portion of damage to local communities caused by global warming.

“I am proud today that the City and County of Honolulu is leading the charge to hold Big Oil accountable for their decades-long misinformation campaign — they knowingly threw our planet headlong into the climate crisis,” said Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell in a news release. “The people of Oahu and people everywhere deserve to see that a portion of the massive profits these corporations have raked in now help pay for the damages that they have caused to our island.”