On March 13, 2023, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court affirmed the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC’s) denial of approval for the energy company Hu Honua Bioenergy, LLC (Hu Honua) to provide power for Hawai‘i Island’s electric grid from a proposed biomass energy facility. The court found that the PUC had “faithfully followed” the court’s remand instructions in a 2019 decision that vacated the PUC’s 2017 approval of the deal. The 2019 decision directed the PUC to give a community action group an opportunity to “meaningfully address” the project’s potential impacts on the groups’ members right to a clean and healthful environment. The 2019 decision also instructed the PUC to give “express consideration” to greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the project, and also to whether the cost of energy was reasonable in light of potential greenhouse gas emissions and whether the deal’s terms were “prudent and in the public interest.” In its 2023 decision, the Supreme Court first found that the PUC’s consideration of pricing was appropriate, given the court’s explicit remand language and the PUC’s constitutional duty to act in the public interest. The court next rejected Hu Honua’s contention that the PUC could only compare the biomass facility’s greenhouse gas emissions and other characteristics with those of fossil fuel plants, and not with other types of renewable energy projects. The court found that Hawai‘i Legislature intended to require the PUC to consider climate change and to reduce emissions. Regarding Hu Honua’s argument that recent amendments to the PUC’s governing statute barred the PUC from considering greenhouse gas emissions from biomass, the Supreme Court noted that the governing statute defined the Hawai‘i Constitution’s “right to a clean and healthful environment, which encompasses the right to a life-sustaining climate system,” and that disregarding greenhouse gas emissions from biomass would undermine this mandate. Finally, the court rejected Hu Honua’s argument that the PUC violated the company’s due process rights, including by creating a carbon neutrality requirement. The court first noted that it was Hu Honua, not the PUC, that “introduced the idea of carbon neutrality into the proceedings” by promising to offset its greenhouse gas emissions by planting trees. The court also indicated that even if the PUC adopted a carbon neutrality standard, “it is not so clear that the agency would have erred,” given the PUC’s constitutional obligation to protect the “affirmative” and “constantly evolving” right to a life-sustaining climate system. The court cited the people of Hawai‘i’s legislative declaration of a “climate emergency” and described the “immediate threats” faced by the state, including sea level rise and ocean warming and acidification. The court stated: “The reality is that yesterday’s good enough has become today’s unacceptable. The PUC was under no obligation to evaluate an energy project conceived of in 2012 the same way in 2022. Indeed, doing so would have betrayed its constitutional duty.”

Biomass power plant developer's challenge to Hawai'i Public Utilities Commission's denial of approval to supply energy to Hawaiʻi Island.

In re Hawai‘i Electric Light Co.

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Hawai‘i Supreme Court Finds State Constitution’s Environmental Rights Clause Encompasses Right to a Life-Sustaining Climate System, Supporting State Rejection of Biomass Energy Deal

Filed

United States of America

Hawaii

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Energy derived from biological compounds that are renewable due to their short life cycle within the carbon dioxide cycle.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities that relate to the production of goods and services from forests.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Hawai‘i Supreme Court Finds State Constitution’s Environmental Rights Clause Encompasses Right to a Life-Sustaining Climate System, Supporting State Rejection of Biomass Energy Deal

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance