Judge Rules in Favor of Young Advocates in Montana Climate Case

Updated on August 14, 2023

• Montana judge Kathy Seeley ruled that young state residents have a constitutional right to a healthy environment, finding the state's failure to consider climate change in evaluating new projects was causing the plaintiffs harm. 
• The group of young Montanans, aged 5 to 22, argued that the state must do more to consider how emissions contribute to droughts, wildfires, and other consequences of climate change. 
• In her ruling of the first of its kind case, Seely found that the state's emissions "have been proven to be a substantial factor" in affecting the climate, and laws that limit a regulator's ability to consider climate change are unconstitutional. 
• Julia Olson, the executive director of Our Children's Trust, the group that brought the case, said: 

"This is a huge win for Montana, for youth, for democracy and for our climate."

Updated on June 12, 2023

• A landmark climate change trial is underway in Montana, where 16 young people are suing the government for their fossil fuel-friendly policies and anti-climate legislation.
• The lawsuit is the first of a series of similar cases being brought to court in the U.S., with the plaintiffs arguing that the government's policies are robbing them of a future and are destroying the environment for future generations.
• The nonprofit Our Children's Trust helped bring the lawsuit and is undertaking legal action in every state on environmental grounds, with several cases pending.
• They purport that the government is failing to "maintain and improve a clean and healthy environment in Montana for present and future generations," as stipulated in the state constitution.
• Lawyers for the state tried to block the case from going to trial, calling it a "show" trial and a "gross injustice."
• Over the course of the two-week trial, the judge will decide whether Montana's support of the fossil fuel industry violates its constitution. This decision would have broad-reaching national consequences.

What's the story?

• Montana's GOP lawmakers have passed legislation that blocks climate change considerations from being part of the environmental review process for large projects like coal mines and power plants.
• Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the anti-climate, anti-environmentalist bill, titled House Bill 971, last week.
• H.B.971 passed both chambers of the state legislature along party lines 
• Under the bill, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality and other state regulators are banned from considering greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when conducting environmental impact assessments for large projects.
• The bill's sponsor, Rep. Josh Kassmier, says that the legislation is necessary for establishing the authority of state lawmakers after a district judge revoked a permit for a natural gas power plant that had already been approved by the state in April.
• When asked whether he believes in climate change Kassmier said, “I’m not a scientist.”
• Gov. Gianforte has previously said that “American innovation and ingenuity” will solve climate change.

What's the picture on extractive industries in Montana?

• Montana contains part of the Bakken Formation, one of the largest onshore oil and gas fields in the United States and the center of intensive fracking activity.
• Montana has the largest recoverable coal reserves in the U.S. and nearly half of the state's electricity comes from coal-burning plants.

What are opponents saying?

• A 2022 poll conducted by Colorado College found that nearly 60% of Montana residents believe in human-caused climate change.
• Over 1,000 comments were submitted by local residents on the bill, with 95% in opposition.
• Montana is feeling the impacts of climate change with rising temperatures and melting glacial ice packs.
• Montana’s 2015 climate assessment found that the state’s annual average temperatures have increased between 2 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit from 1950 to 2015.
• Winona Bateman, executive director of Families for a Livable Climate, said:

“Our families are already suffering from an increase in the number of sweltering summer days, longer wildfire and smoke seasons, and historic drought. I am not sure how Gov. Gianforte imagines we will do our part to address these growing impacts, or pay for them, if we’re not working to eliminate the root cause.”

Legal battles

• The bill was passed as a Montana judge weighs a case brought by sixteen plaintiffs who are suing the government for its pro-fossil fuel policies.
• The plaintiffs, all young adults, claim that Montana's bias towards fossil fuel corporations violates their right to a “clean and healthful environment” guaranteed under Montana’s 50-year-old constitution.
• The hearing for this case is set to begin next month.

What are other states doing?

• Similar anti-climate legislation is being proposed in other GOP-led states.
• Texas passed a law that bans the state from doing business with financial firms that have divested funds from fossil fuel companies for climate reasons.
• Ohio lawmakers are considering forcing colleges to teach students about both sides of the climate change debate, despite a near consensus among the scientific community that human-made climate change is real and that burning fossil fuels is directly connected to climate change. 
• Tennessee and Louisiana have already passed similar laws which sow doubt and present human-made climate change as a controversial topic, which is inaccurate.
• Riley Moore, the treasurer of West Virginia, has barred major banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo from government contracts because they are divesting from coal, which is a major industry in his state. 

What do you think of Montana's anti-environmental law?

—Emma Kansiz