US judge steps aside in dispute over Hawaii energy settlement

A federal judge in Hawaii has disqualified himself from hearing a dispute over whether a decades-old price-fixing settlement bars the state from suing Chevron and other energy companies over climate change, concluding that he has a potential conflict of interest as a Hawaiian resident.

In an order on Tuesday, US District Judge Micah Smith withdrew from further participation in the litigation, leading the court's chief judge to assign Oregon-based US District Judge Michael Mosman to take over.

Smith, who joined the bench in 2023, said he and members of his family lived in Hawaii during the 1990s and might qualify as parties covered by the statewide settlement.

“This conflict almost certainly extends, in one way or another, to all other district judges in the District of Hawai'i,” Smith wrote.

Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment left with his office. Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Hawaii referred to its court submissions. In court filings, Chevron and Hawaii said they saw no need for Smith to recuse himself.