Even as the Trump administration moves to block state and local climate liability efforts, states and municipalities continue to advance lawsuits seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for harms associated with climate change. Most recently, the State of Hawaii initiated a climate deception lawsuit, and the City of Charleston, South Carolina, submitted a briefing in a pending case—each alleging that the fossil fuel industry engaged in a decades-long campaign to mislead the public about the risks of fossil fuel consumption and climate change. Both developments come as the Trump administration escalates its opposition to such suits, issuing on April 8 an executive order (EO), Protecting American Energy From State Overreach, targeting and filing lawsuits making constitutional challenges to state-led climate litigation and legislative actions—including a preemptive action against Hawaii just days before the state’s filing.

Hawaii Files Suit Against Oil Companies—Despite DOJ’s Preemptive Legal Threat
On May 1, 2025, Hawaii Attorney General, Anne Lopez, filed suit in Hawaii state court against 20 major oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute. The state alleges that the defendants were aware, as early as the 1960s, that fossil fuel combustion posed “catastrophic” climate risks but concealed those risks from the public and actively misled consumers through a decades-long “greenwashing” campaign by marketing their products as safe, necessary or environmentally friendly.

Reprinted courtesy of Amanda G. Halter, Pillsbury, Ashleigh Myers, Pillsbury and Jillian Marullo, Pillsbury

Ms. Halter may be contacted at amanda.halter@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Myers may be contacted at ashleigh.myers@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Marullo may be contacted at jillian.marullo@pillsburylaw.com