November 22, 2016 — President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and “bullshit.”
On the campaign trail, he pledged to dismantle clean energy plans, pull out of an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions and ease regulations on coal, oil and gas production as part of his plan to “Make America Great Again.”
What Trump will actually do after he takes the reins of government in January from President Barack Obama remains to be seen. But nonprofit groups, lawmakers, government officials and others say Hawaii needs to remain vigilant about protecting its environment over the next four years.
They say that means lawyering up to fight court battles, empowering citizens, reminding local decision-makers of their authority and investing more resources into state and county agencies that can backstop changes Trump and a GOP-controlled House and Senate may make at the federal level.
“The state has often felt like it can just leave it to the feds,” said David Henkin, a Hawaii-based attorney for Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization. “They’re not going to be able to pass the buck anymore. It’s time for them to step up.”