Supreme Court allows Hawaii lawsuit against oil companies to proceed

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a lawsuit from Hawaii against oil companies that claim that their operations have harmed the climate and impacted the economy there.

The court declined to review a ruling by Hawaii's Supreme Court that refused to dismiss the case, which was brought by the city and county of Honolulu and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.

“This case presents the Court with its only foreseeable opportunity in the near future to decide a dispositive question that is arising in every climate-change case: whether federal law precludes state-law claims seeking redress for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate,” the companies argued in their petition filed last year.

If the case succeeds and turns selling energy into a liability, "it will make energy much more expensive for all of us," Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) special counsel Phil Goldberg said.

“The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear this case at this time is unfortunate because it prolongs litigation when there is general agreement that state law -- in this instance, Hawaii’s -- cannot govern, let alone impose liability on, the manufacture, sale and promotion of energy around the world,” Goldberg said in a statement. “We are confident that when Hawaii courts consider these claims, they will join the many courts that have already found that this climate litigation has no legal or factual foundation.”

Just because the high court is allowing the case to go forward doesn't mean any particular result is a foregone concluson.