Outlets are reporting that state Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen is about to unveil a a sweeping new batch of regulations today to decarbonize Hawai‘i's transportation sector. As the coverage reminds us, this is due to the state of Hawai’i settling a lawsuit known as Navahine F. v. Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, filed by 13 mostly Native Hawaiian teenagers, represented by Mainland-based activist law firms Earthjustice and Our Children's Trust.
Specifically, it was Gov. Josh Green, the state Department of Transportation and Sniffen who settled last June, you can read the full settlement document here to see what they've unilaterally inflicted on the people of Hawai‘i.
This is monumentally undemocratic and elected officials had no business settling this suit. What that state agreed to is ludicrous. Here's the original suit in full, which the Ige administration tried to dismiss.
The suit alleged, and the Green administration has agreed, that state government has a constitutional duty to protect citizens from an entire planet’s environment.
One hopes that had this gone to trial, a sensible judge would’ve laughed it out the door. It is not physically possible. Taken literally, state government would need to, for example, stop seismic and volcanic activity around the entire Pacific Rim to protect us from tsunamis.
Perhaps you, too, are concerned about climate change and have a hard time seeing why this settlement is bad news and undemocratic. So let me change the issue but keep the process in place.
Imagine a situation in which a conservative anti-abortion activist is named director of the Department of Health by a Republican governor.
Now imagine that 13 charismatic churchgoing teens sue the Department of Health for failing to protect the constitution rights of all minors, at any age, to life itself.
The case never goes to trial. The Governor and the Department Health settle immediately and hold a joint press conference with the teenagers.
“These brave young people have shown us the error of our ways and we now committed to outlawing abortion. There’s no going back from here. We got sued fair and square, the kids had a point, we totally see that now. And we are bound — all of us in Hawai’i — bound abide to by the settlement.”
In a deep blue state like Hawai’i, I think a lot of people would have a big, big problem with that.
But that’s what just happened. We’re going to decarbonize the transportation sector by 2045, or as long as takes, and until then, the courts are in charge of where, when and how we make every trip. None of us discussed this, there was no debate, Legislators did not get to weigh in, no one voted. The activist lawyers sued, cynically deploying children for maximum PR value, and Green, Sniffen and others committed us all to this entirely on their own.
This is not a new problem, but it’s the worst example I can think of in Hawai‘i. This undemocratic policy-by-lawsuit strategy became so prevalent in Congress through the 1990s that by 1999, Congress released a massive report on the problem. Conclusion: laws made via lawsuits short circuit the democratic process. To the degree that true believers sit on both sides of the lawsuits, it’s a scam against the people and a form of tyranny-by-lawyer.
So expect to be told you need to walk more, ride a bike, get out of your car and get on the train. You need to ditch your gas car as soon as possible for a more expensive EV. You know, those vehicles packed with giant batteries full of rare elements mined by children in foreign countries. Expect to be told that solar and wind will magically provide all the additional energy needed for a million drained batteries — but not nuclear energy, of course.
It’s up to you to figure how you’re going to drop the kids off at school, get to work, go back to the school, go to Costco then home.
Expect transportation, and thus life in Hawai‘i, to become more expensive. And all this added cost and diminished liberty will reduce greenhouse gases by … how much? Not enough to make a difference, within the logic of the settlement itself, when China and India pump out more carbon dioxide than we can possibly fathom.
Actually, on second thought, let’s fathom it. Hawai’i appears to emit about 15.5 million metric tons of CO2 in a year, across all sectors.
China emits 12, 667 million metric tons per year — that’s Hawai’i's entire output every 12 hours. It would take us 817 years in Hawai‘i to equal one year of Chinese emissions.
So if Green and Sniffen really believe they have a constitutional duty to protect us from climate change, there's something they should've done before imposing a decarbonization scheme on us.
Sue China.
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A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.
A. Kam Napier can be reached at kam@alohastatedaily.com.
