It’s all about the oil companies. Are they necessary and beneficial, or an evil plague on the environment? The answer depends on whether you believe the messages from the left or right side of the aisle. Recently, 15 states filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for declaring a national energy emergency that pushes oil and gas expansion. At the same time, several Democratic states are suing major oil companies for exacerbating climate change, while many Republican states have been trying to challenge the left, only to be thwarted twice by the Supreme Court. So what is all the hoopla about? Is the goal to get control and impose a version of the Green New Deal on the public or to address real climate control concerns?
Suing Oil Companies – Climate Change or Control?
The Trump administration sued Hawaii on May 7 in an effort to block the state from suing oil companies for damages that the Aloha State claims are a result of climate change. Still, Gov. Josh Green’s (D) administration continued to seek legal action the very next day. The lawsuit is aimed at seven groups of oil companies, including BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute. Notably absent from the list, according to an exclusive by The Washington Free Beacon, are Houston-based Par Pacific and its subsidiary Par Hawaii, the latter of which operates Hawaii’s sole petroleum refinery and remains the state’s leading supplier of gasoline and jet fuel. The outlet posits that the reason these giants were excluded from the lawsuit is because of their generous donations to Democratic candidates.
The lawsuit accuses the oil companies of “marketing and selling products that have caused higher temperatures, increased sea levels, more frequent flooding, coastal erosion, and more intense heat waves.” If this is so, why leave out the heaviest contributors?
The Beacon reported that, 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.” The outlet continued, “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.”
After the complaint was filed, the governor said:
“The climate crisis is here, and the costs of surviving it are rising every day. The burden should fall on those who deceived and failed to warn consumers about the climate dangers lurking in their products. 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.”
Green wasn’t the only Democrat to receive donations from Par – several others received generous sums as well – which raises the question: Why were the biggest contributors to climate change left out of the lawsuit? Some suggest this is all a behind-the-scenes plan to initiate a Green New Deal version that couldn’t get voted in. “Hawaiian climate hypocrisy is on full display,” Jason Isaac, the CEO of the American Energy Institute, told The 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.”
“Make no mistake,” O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers and former Arizona solicitor general, told the outlet, “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.” He continued:
“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.”
Democratic States Filing Lawsuits
Hawaii is just one in a long line of states that have been filing lawsuits against oil companies, accusing them of causing climate change issues that are damaging their territories. Rhode Island filed suit against 21 fossil fuel companies in July 2018. New York filed against Exxon in 2018, but the courts ruled in the oil company’s favor in December 2019. Massachusetts filed against Exxon in 2019, Minnesota did the same in 2020 and included a few other companies, and the District of Columbia filed four claims in 2020. Delaware and Connecticut also went after oil companies in 2020. California joined the fight in 2023, going after five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world.
Nineteen Republican states have tried to go against five of the Democratic states suing oil companies by taking their concerns to the Supreme Court. However, the higher Court rejected the lawsuit in March, for the second time, claiming the complaint did not meet the Court’s criteria. The plaintiffs argued the lawsuit against the oil companies was the Democrats’ attempt to “assert the power to dictate the future of the American energy industry … by imposing ruinous liability and coercive remedies on energy companies.”
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas saying, “The Court today leaves the 19 plaintiff States without any legal means of vindicating their claims against the 5 defendant states.”
Meanwhile, as Trump tries to enforce his executive order to make energy a national emergency, 15 states are trying to stop it. Those who oppose the EO claim it is unlawful because it would fast-track regulations and result in further damage to waters and habitat.
“The President of the United States has the authority to determine what is a national emergency, not state attorneys or the courts,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers wrote in an email. “President Trump recognizes that unleashing American energy is crucial to both our economic and national security.”
While the fight against oil companies is nothing new, the sheer number of lawsuits being filed in various directions is different. Who will win this battle of oil rights? Is it really about climate change or citizen control?
