Blue States Slam Fossil Fuels In Politics, Lean On Them For Energy

Hawaii Sets The Blue State Tone

Hawaii is a clear example, but not the only one. The state still faces the highest electricity prices in the nation – higher even than fellow blue state California – and federal data show its residents also had the highest average monthly residential electric bill in 2024 even while using relatively little power. That cost burden is one reason Governor Josh Green’s administration has spent so much effort engaging Japanese energy giant JERA’s proposal to modernize Oahu’s aging grid with new gas-backed generation and LNG import capacity.

Hawaii State Energy Office has even reaffirmed that LNG remains a cost-effective part of the state’s transition away from oil. Yet, Hawaii’s lawmakers recently tried to pass – and failed – bill SB 1166 that would allow state insurance mechanisms and private insurers to sue alleged “responsible parties” for climate-linked payouts, impose joint and several liability, and strip away several common defenses.

Other Blue State Governors Follow The Lead

New York is learning the same lesson in a different way. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged this spring that New York cannot meet its current 2030 climate-law requirements without imposing major new costs on households and businesses. She warned that the state faces reliability risks because it retired fossil generation faster than replacement resources arrived. She responded by calling for more time, a different emissions accounting standard, and an “all-of-the-above” approach to keep energy affordable and reliable.

At the same time, the state’s reconsideration of major gas-pipeline projects became important enough to be folded into last year’s Empire Wind deal with Washington, and midstream firm Williams is now back on the ground advancing long-delayed pipeline work in the region. For a state that only months earlier signed a climate-superfund law targeting energy companies, this is a tacit admission that dependable gas supply still matters despite all the political rhetoric to the contrary.

California and Massachusetts tell a similar story. Californians pay some of the highest electricity prices in the country and pay the highest gasoline prices in America as of this April. Yet California regulators have kept a path open for continued use of Aliso Canyon because reliability and affordability still matter, and Gov. Newsom himself has said the facility cannot be closed in a way that leaves families exposed to “skyrocketing utility bills.”

Massachusetts is now openly pursuing an “all-of-the-above” energy approach while reviewing the role of Everett LNG and approving new gas supplies. Notably, natural gas fueled two-thirds of the state’s electricity generation in 2024.

Energy Realities Trump Blue State Rhetoric

None of this means these governors have become fans of the oil and gas industry. But these and other examples do signal that energy access and household budgets still set hard boundaries around political ambition. Dispatchable power, LNG import terminals, and refineries are systems that keep lights on, furnaces running, and prices from moving even higher. Blue-state officials may still prefer to describe fossil fuels as yesterday’s energy source and use them as political boogeymen, but their own actions increasingly concede that yesterday’s systems remain the most reliable and affordable.

Blue states cannot spend years vilifying fossil-fuel companies, inventing new liability theories against them, and then act surprised when the infrastructure they still need becomes harder to finance, harder to permit, and more expensive to keep running. Lawsuits do not refill storage or lower next month’s power bill. Infrastructure does. And the clearest proof is that even the states most eager to punish fossil fuels keep making exceptions for them when voters start opening their utility bills.