Actualizing Restorative Energy Justice Throughout Hawaiʻi
By Lauren Ballesteros-Watanabe, Chapter Organizer | Reading time: 5.75 minutes
Once confined to the realm of criminal justice, restorative justice (RJ) has evolved into a powerful social movement rooted in healing, equity, and community. It’s a call to action that confronts an urgent reality: frontline and Indigenous communities, along with our planet, are profoundly scarred by a living legacy of colonialism, environmental harm, racial injustice, and socio-economic inequity.
Communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income neighborhoods continue to bear the brunt of environmental devastation. Toxic waste sites, polluted air, and contaminated water sources are more likely to be found in these communities, making environmental injustice inextricably linked to the same systemic oppression—policies and practices that have exploited both people and land for the sake of profits.
In her article, An Indigenous People’s Right to Environmental Self-Determination: Native Hawaiians and the Struggle Against Climate Change Devastation, Kapua Sproat draws a compelling connection between restorative justice and government responses to ecological collapse. She argues that restorative justice principles offer a critical pathway for addressing ongoing historical harms and align with international human rights norms, where the right to self-determination is a foundational element of true environmental justice.
“A local legal regime’s embrace of restorative justice principles in its dealings with native peoples (even in general terms) creates a key opening for shaping those interactions and related decision-making according to international human rights norms of self-determination for indigenous peoples.”
-Kapuaʻala Sproat
In recent years, the urgency around restorative justice as it relates to the energy transition has become increasingly apparent. The sprint to get to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible, often choosing the biggest most impactful renewable energy projects to get there. We witnessed the devastating effects of severe consequences of Hawaiian Electric's inadequate maintenance of power lines and failure to address wildfire risks resulting in a preventable disaster. And we cannot forget or ignore how the ongoing impacts that the Na Pua Makani wind farm has fractured the Kahuku community. Meanwhile, despite gains in renewable energy projects, HECO’s customers face shut offs as electricity bills continue to burden working class households in the most expensive state in the nation.
Despite all this, the energy transition is an opportunity to offer a transformative approach to energy justice—one that not only addresses technical deficiencies but also embraces a broader framework of restorative energy justice that centers accountability, healing, and systemic change.
Restorative Energy Justice, by William S. Richardson Law Professor Richard Wallsgrove, explores the underdeveloped concept of restorative justice in the energy transition. “In an energy context, this would mean constructing a truth and reconciliation process to re-examine narratives about how energy systems have evolved, who has participated in that evolution and how, and what harms and benefits have accrued along the path to the modern system. The connective thread between Sproat and Wallsgrove’s analysis on restorative justice is indigenous rights and knowledge as a pathway to realize restorative justice. Wallsgrove’s report highlights how traditional approaches often overlook the broader harms and historical injustices caused by energy systems. As we have shared before, this injustice is rooted in the origins of Hawaiʻi’s regulated electricity industry are deeply tied to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and are intertwined with the militarization and exploitation of land and resources by colonial powers.
To truly address these rootcause systemic issues, Wallsgrove’s report calls for an expanded inquiry into the early development of the energy system from a Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) perspective. This inquiry aims to uncover the historical impacts on ʻŌiwi agency, land dispossession, and cultural disenfranchisement that have shaped the current energy landscape. Like Sproat's argument for indigenous rights to be reflected in climate mitigation, acknowledging and integrating these perspectives is essential to advancing restorative energy justice by ensuring that future energy policies and developments honor Native Hawaiian rights to sovereignty and self-determination.
The following are the four Key Dimensions of Restorative Energy Justice, according to Wallsgrove:
Recognition:
Acknowledges historical and ongoing harms caused by energy systems, including dispossession and environmental degradation.
Emphasizes the need to recognize the specific impacts on Native Hawaiian communities and the loss of ʻŌiwi agency over energy resources.
Responsibility:
Calls for energy utilities, regulators, and policymakers to take responsibility for the systemic harms perpetuated by past and present energy decisions.
Includes financial restitution and structural changes to prevent future harm.
Reconstruction:
Focuses on rebuilding relationships and trust between energy providers, regulators, and communities.
Encourages incorporating cultural values and Indigenous stewardship principles into energy planning and infrastructure development.
Repair:
Advocates for tangible actions to restore what has been lost, such as ecological restoration and community-driven energy projects.
Seeks to reimagine an energy system that aligns with the cultural and environmental values of Native Hawaiian communities.
Here are some ways that they are happening in real time just based on some of the issues aforementioned, though we have a long way to go, these do not cover all aspects of the dimensions.
Recognition and Responsibility:
Energy Justice and Equity docket: Though merely a starting point, this ongoing investigate docket seeks to define energy equity and integrate energy justice practices into the commission's work and ensure that the Commission's oversight of public utilities is informed by and responsive to the needs of diverse and historically underserved communities. This docket also has made the Commission more accessible to community input than in its entire history.
Performance Based Rates Docket: Hawai’i is leading on this endeavor to decouple a utility company's profits to be soley based on how much electricity they sell, but instead are tied to how well they perform against specific goals like reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, or increasing renewable energy usage, essentially rewarding them for exceeding expectations and incentivizing better overall performance for customers and the environment, rather than just selling more power. The goal of which is to end the profit driven motive and capital investments in large infrastructure that has burdened small rural communities which are predominantly working class Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.
Reconstruction and Repair:
Moloka’i CERAP: We never grow tired of pointing to this North Star of community-led energy planning that directly honors cultural values and Indigenous stewardship principles into energy planning and infrastructure development. This initiative is in collaboration with the utility, the PUC, and relavant State and County agencies demonstrating that at a grassroots level, reimagined energy systems aligned with cultural and environmental values are possible.
Utility Disconnections Reform: Amid the PUC’s broader equity investigation in the equity docket, the PUC identified a need to explore the equity implications of utility disconnections due to nonpayment—which disproportionately affects low-income households—and regulatory solutions employed in other jurisdictions. They will be holding a series of status conferences to discuss processes and gather input from community on impacts.
While there have been strides toward a just energy future, the true path to restorative energy justice remains incomplete. What’s missing—according to the reports referenced—is institutional change that meaningfully integrates Indigenous knowledge systems with modern energy models. This project seeks to bridge that gap by transforming abstract ideals into actionable strategies that are both rooted in place and relevant to the present.
By elevating Native Hawaiian ancestral sciences as a critical framework, the initiative redefines how energy transitions can occur. It weaves together community values with advanced technologies, creating a platform for designing energy pathways that are not only sustainable but also deeply aligned with cultural heritage and environmental stewardship. This approach ensures that energy justice is more than a distant aspiration; it becomes a lived reality that empowers communities to lead, restores balance to ecosystems, and reshapes humanity’s relationship with energy in ways that are both culturally resonant and practically grounded.
Ultimately, this model offers a blueprint for global industries and regions to follow, proving that Indigenous-led innovations are essential to true sustainability. It showcases that justice is not just about technological advancement or policy reform—it’s about reciprocity, inclusivity, and a commitment to integrating diverse worldviews that reimagine what’s possible when we center Indigenous wisdom in the global quest for a balanced energy future.
Photo: Taryn Kaahanui