The end goal remains the same \u2014\u00a0to have the oil and gas companies whose emissions contribute to climate change ultimately bear the costs of such disasters instead of ratepayers.<\/p>\n
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A property on Waialua Beach Road was hit with flood waters in the most recent Kona low system. Amid all the catastrophic storm activity, lawmakers are keeping alive efforts to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate change-related disasters. (Craig Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the climate disasters happening right now, we wanted some sort of vehicle moving to address those,\u201d said K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Rep. Scot Matayoshi. \u201cIt\u2019s worth a shot.\u201d The Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, which he chairs, passed the revived legislation, Senate Bill 1611, last week<\/a>. <\/p>\n State leaders have worked in recent years to try and keep rising insurance rates affordable for local property owners, particularly condominium associations, as storms, floods and wildfires hit the islands with increased ferocity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, they revived the long-dormant Hawai\u02bbi Hurricane Relief Fund<\/a>, which was launched after Hurricane \u02bbIniki hit Kaua\u02bbi in 1992 to give local condo associations a public insurance option when the private market isn\u2019t feasible. Nearly 100 associations have since signed up for the program, Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole said, seeing an average premium savings of around $100,000.<\/p>\n Keohokalole introduced the bill that nine of his Senate colleagues in the powerful Ways and Means Committee voted to strike down<\/a> during a joint hearing.<\/p>\n The bill now moving through the Legislature doesn\u2019t include that hurricane insurance fund, Matayoshi said, because the attorney general can already pursue damages for those insurers. However, it would empower a host of other insurers who offer local coverage for floods, wildfires and other damages to go after oil and gas.<\/p>\n Lori Lum, a government relations executive with the Honolulu law firm Watanabe Ing and lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, testified last week that the bill is unfair because oil and gas companies have operated for decades under permits and regulations approved by the state and federal governments.<\/p>\n However, bill supporters point out the companies represented by the institute, such as Exxon Mobil, were found<\/a> to have misled the public for decades<\/a> about what they knew about climate change and its potential impacts. The industry, they argue, should be liable for climate-related damages the same way the tobacco and opioid industries have been held to account for widespread health impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at what happened with the big tobacco settlements or the opioid industry, it\u2019s the same kind of thing,\u201d said Evan Weber, a climate activist with the progressive political action committee Our Hawai\u02bbi<\/a>. \u201cThese companies deceived the public and basically lied about their product and then, you know, other folks had to kind of bear the cost of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Longer Droughts And Heavier Rains<\/p>\n As some lawmakers look to hold Big Oil accountable for future climate disasters, the state along with Honolulu and Maui counties<\/a> have all separately filed lawsuits against those oil and gas companies for past damage climate change has already caused the islands. The suits remain pending.<\/p>\n
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The traffic circle at Farrington Highway and Goodale Avenue has become a dumping ground as cleanup continued, Sunday, in Waialua. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Civil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753322412_339_logo10.png\"){kind=logo}
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