Fourteen Hawaii youths, ages 9 to 18 from five islands, sued the state Department of Transportation in state court Tuesday, alleging its operation of a transportation system that results in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions is harming their communities and violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
“This is the first case that has focused on the constitutionality of a transportation system,” said Andrea Rodgers, co-counsel for the plaintiffs and attorney for Our Children’s Trust, based in Eugene, Ore., one of two environmental-focused law firms, along with Earthjustice, that filed the lawsuit on the youths’ behalf.
They are seeking a legal declaration that greenhouse gas emissions from the state transportation system violate constitutional rights, in a finding that would mandate fixing the system, Rodgers said.
One of the plaintiffs, identified only as Navahine F., 14, is a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner whose family has farmed kalo in Hakipuu for over 10 generations, but their way of life has been altered by climate change, the complaint alleges.
Extreme weather fluctuations have become more common, from heavy rain that floods the ditch system and destroys crops, to extended drought that dries out the ditch system, degrading habitat for native stream life and waterbirds.
The complaint says rising sea levels, due to greenhouse gas emissions, are infiltrating the groundwater table, raising the pH of the soil and reducing crop yields.
The complaint says the kalo loi (taro field) is 6 inches above sea level, and if reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are not made, the land will be under water within Navahine’s lifetime.
Rising sea levels and climate change contribute to contamination of and harm to the 125-acre Molii fishpond and the fish and limu in the pond, which her family also helps care for, the suit claims. Navahine has also seen the harm the contaminated water has caused to green sea turtles and monk seals, the complaint says.
Another plaintiff, identified only as Kaliko T., said: “Climate change really impacted my life because I lost my house in a flood. Climate change is drastically changing lives around the world, and we need our governments to take it and us seriously.”
Rodgers said the courts can evaluate and determine whether DOT complies with the constitution.
“The youth are going to court to ensure the DOT follows through on the legal mandate set by the state Legislature to decarbonize Hawaii’s economy and achieve a zero emissions economy by 2045,” Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit public interest law firm, said in a news release.
It says children born in 2020 compared to those born in 1960 are expected to face a two- to seven-fold increase in extreme climate events such as heat waves, wildfires, crop failures, droughts and floods.
Attorney Marti Townsend of Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, said most other state agencies such as the Hawaii State Energy Office, are complying with the state’s goal of becoming carbon negative by 2025, but “the DOT has been doing the exact opposite. They are driving in the wrong direction in trying to meet this goal.”
She said the lawsuit is a way “to ask the court for help in explaining what the DOT is required (to do), and keeping a watchful eye” both in following constitutional mandates and state law.
DOT spokesman Jai Cunningham said, “It is the HDOT’s position to not provide specific comments related to potential litigation.”
In other U.S. states, Our Children’s Trust’s lawsuits have focused on fossil fuels and energy infrastructure, and are in different stages. A Montana case challenging the state’s energy system and policy is going to trial, Rodgers said.
But they and other organizations have found success in other countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Canada.
The DOT should be implementing policies to help us make the transition, “but are doing the opposite by putting in more road miles,” Townsend said. “The decisions they’ve made has resulted in increased greenhouse gas emissions. It’s continuing to run as they did in the mid-90s before we committed to becoming carbon negative in 2025.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the court where the lawsuit was filed as federal court.
