'Climate kids' lawsuit targets Hawaii's DOT

(Reuters) - The Hawaii Department of Transportation is violating the state’s laws and its constitution by “promoting, funding, and implementing transportation projects that lock in and escalate the use of fossil fuels,” according to a lawsuit, opens new tab filed by 14 children and teenagers.

While the rest of the state works to reach a Zero Emissions Target by 2045, the transportation department has prioritized highway construction that leads to more fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, the 9- to 18-year-old plaintiffs say in a complaint filed Wednesday in state court in Honolulu by lawyers at Earthjustice and Our Children’s Trust.

As a result, “total transportation sector emissions” are on track to increase 41% between 2020 and 2030, despite improvements in tailpipe emissions efficiency and other innovations, the complaint alleges.

An HDOT spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation on Wednesday.

While Our Children’s Trust has spearheaded several “kids’ climate suits” since the groundbreaking case of Juliana v. USA in 2015, the Hawaii action is the first to focus exclusively on transportation policies, said Leinā‘ala L. Ley of Earthjustice and Andrea Rodgers of Our Children’s Trust in a joint email Wednesday.

“The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation is a weak link in the state’s ongoing efforts to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions,” the email said. “All other constitutional climate change cases have focused on energy systems, energy policy or climate policy.”

The suit seeks a declaration that HDOT is violating the children’s state constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, saying climate change causes sea levels to rise, increases extreme weather events, and jeopardizes roads, homes, beaches, coral reefs, and other aspects of island life.

The plaintiffs also want the court to order HDOT to take unspecified but “concrete action steps” to reduce emissions, and to appoint a special master to oversee the changes.

Courts considering similar lawsuits have balked at ordering executive-branch agencies to take specific actions – including the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which dismissed the Juliana case in 2020. A federal judge in Oregon is now considering the Juliana plaintiffs’ motion to revive the suit with an amended complaint.

Meanwhile, cities and states across the country have filed more than a dozen climate-change lawsuits against oil companies, seeking monetary damages under a public-nuisance theory. One such action, filed by the city and county of Honolulu, is advancing toward trial after surviving the companies’ motion to dismiss in February.

The case filed Wednesday is Navahine F., a minor, etc., et al., v. Department of Transportation, State of Hawai‘i, et al, First Circuit Court of the State of Hawai‘i, No. 1CCV-22-0000631.

For Navahine F. et al: Isaac Moriwake and Leinā‘ala L. Ley of Earthjustice; Andrea Rodgers and Kimberly Willis of Our Children’s Trust

For Hawaii and the Department of Transportation: Not immediately available