The Supreme Court on Monday turned away challenges from fossil fuel companies over a Hawaii court green lighting lawsuits against them over the effects of climate change.

Sunoco LP, Shell USA Inc. and roughly a dozen other oil companies asked the high court to review a decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court that allowed the city of Honolulu to sue them over allegations that they caused environmental damage from climate change.

The city points to flooding and erosion as some of the damages.

The companies wanted the justices to decide if federal law prevents the state law claims.

But in an order without comment, the high court declined to take up the dispute. The rejection means the case can move forward outside of federal court.

It would have taken four justices to vote in favor of reviewing the case for oral arguments to have been granted.

“Energy companies that produce, sell, and market fossil fuels are facing numerous lawsuits in state courts across the Nation seeking billions of dollars in damages for injuries allegedly caused by global climate change,” Sunoco argued in its petition.

Since 2017, dozens of state and local governments have filed lawsuits saying fossil fuel giants’ production, marketing and sales have contributed to climate change.

Legal experts say the Supreme Court’s denial was a miss and that it will lead to more localities trying to implement climate change regulations and assign liability.

“For years, state and local activists have tried to make themselves the nation’s energy regulators, through state tort litigation. It distorts constitutional federalism and state tort law alike,” said Adam White, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “While the Court denied cert in this particular case, cases like this will only continue to proliferate as more and more state officials try to make themselves national energy policy czars.

“I hope that the Court will hear the issue someday, for the sake of constitutional accountability and the public interest,” he said.

O.H. Skinner, executive director of Alliance for Consumers and the former Solicitor General of Arizona, called the denial “a massive miss by the Supreme Court.”

“Consumers are not helped by these cases, which seek to wipe products from store shelves and funnel money to left-wing causes,” Mr. Skinner said.

The cases were Sunoco v. Honolulu and Shell v. Honolulu.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.