Trial began Monday in a lawsuit brought by 16 youth plaintiffs alleging that the state of Montana has failed to protect them and future generations from the harmful effects of climate change. Held v. Montana is the first constitutional climate suit in US history to make it to trial, as similar actions in nearly every state have been dismissed.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs argue that they “have been and will continue to be harmed by the dangerous impacts of fossil fuels and the climate crisis.” They allege that by “creat[ing] and implement[ing] a long-standing fossil-fuel based state energy system that contributes to dangerous climate disruption,” the state government has violated their constitutional rights guaranteed under the Montana Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs contend that the government has breached Article II § 3, Article II § 4, Article II § 15, Article II § 17, Article IX § 1, and Article IX § 3. The plaintiffs allege that despite being aware of the unreasonable risk being created, the government is exacerbating the effects of climate change.
The complaint reads:
The threats posed by fossil fuels and the climate crisis are existential. Science is unequivocal that dangerous climate change is upon us and is occurring due to human activities, primarily from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels… The release of anthropogenic [greenhouse gases] into the atmosphere is already triggering a host of adverse consequences in Montana, including dangerously increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, increasing droughts and extreme weather events, increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, increasing glacial melt, and causing numerous adverse health risks, especially to children . . . Youth Plaintiffs, most of whom cannot vote, therefore seek this Court’s judgment and redress.
The suit was filed in March 2020 in the First Judicial District Court in Helena, Montana following the release of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report finding that the climate crisis is significantly impacting snowpack, precipitation, agricultural yields and wildfires in Montana. In August 2021, Judge Kathy Seeley denied the state’s motion to dismiss, allowing the case to go to trial.
The trial comes just a month after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte approved House Bill (HB) 971, which revises the Environmental Policy Act, effectively prohibiting state regulators from considering GHG emissions when reviewing large projects such as coal mines and power plants. Because the plaintiff’s original complaint included a challenge to an energy policy that HB 971 repealed, part of the case was dismissed since the disputed law is no longer in force.
The trial is set to last two weeks and conclude on June 23, 2023.
