I’ve long said that the hope for our nation, for the world really, lies in our youth.  In many ways today’s young people are more attuned to the problems facing us and more likely to be the ones to find solutions to such things as our gun problem, education, poverty, climate change and more.  Yesterday, a court case in Montana, Held v Montana, was ruled in favour of 16 young people between the ages of 5 and 22, who had accused state officials in Montana of violating their right to a healthy environment.  Here’s what Heather Cox Richardson had to say about it …

… a major legal victory for those combating climate change:

In 1972, after a century of mining, ranching, and farming had taken a toll on Montana, voters in that state added to their constitution an amendment saying that “[t]he state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations,” and that the state legislature must make rules to prevent the degradation of the environment. 

In March 2020 the nonprofit public interest law firm Our Children’s Trust filed a lawsuit on behalf of sixteen young Montana residents, arguing that the state’s support for coal, oil, and gas violated their constitutional rights because it created the pollution fueling climate change, thus depriving them of their right to a healthy environment. They pointed to a Montana law forbidding the state and its agents from taking the impact of greenhouse gas emissions or climate change into consideration in their environmental reviews, as well as the state’s fossil fuel–based state energy policy. 

That lawsuit is named Held v. Montana after the oldest plaintiff, Rikki Held, whose family’s 7,000-acre ranch was threatened by a dwindling water supply, and both the state and a number of officers of Montana. The state of Montana contested the lawsuit by denying that the burning of fossil fuels causes climate change—despite the scientific consensus that it does—and denied that Montana has experienced changing weather patterns. Through a spokesperson, the governor said: “We must focus on American innovation and ingenuity, not costly, expansive government mandates, to address our changing climate.”

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found for the young Montana residents, agreeing that they have “experienced past and ongoing injuries resulting from the State’s failure to consider [greenhouse gas emissions] and climate change, including injuries to their physical and mental health, homes and property, recreational, spiritual, and aesthetic interests, tribal and cultural traditions, economic security, and happiness.” She found that their “injuries will grow increasingly severe and irreversible without science-based actions to address climate change.”  

The plaintiffs sought an acknowledgement of the relationship of fossil fuels to climate change and a declaration that the state’s support for fossil fuel industries is unconstitutional. Such a declaration would create a foundation for other lawsuits in other states. 

One word of caution … the case is likely to be overturned on appeal by the state of Montana.  Says Robert Hubbell …

The decision faces ongoing opposition from Montana’s attorney general, who called the decision “absurd” and promised an appeal that will end up in the Montana Supreme Court. No matter. The dam has broken and the victory by sixteen young citizens of Montana will inspire hundreds (or thousands) of additional suits. Some of those suits will succeed, encouraging more such suits. Fossil fuel lobbyists have ruled supreme in state legislatures for more than a century. The victory today is a very small step forward, but it is significant, nonetheless. It is particularly impactful because the plaintiffs were youths ranging in age from 5 to 22 years old.

Either way, this is a win and the start of something big … our young people care about the environment and have a vested interest in doing the things we should have done decades ago!