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Youth climate lawsuit will go to
trial despite Montana effort to derail case
May 12, 2023
By The Associated Press
![](images/images_05_25_2023/pic5.jpg)
Judge Kathy Seeley listens to arguments during a status hearing for
Held vs. Montana in the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse in Helena,
Mont., on Friday, May 12, 2023. Seeley said a climate change lawsuit
from young people challenging the stateâ??s pro-fossil fuel policies
will proceed to trial despite efforts by officials to derail the case.
(Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)
HELENA,Mont. — A Montana judge on Friday said a climate change lawsuit
from young people challenging the state's pro-fossil fuel policies
will proceed to trial despite efforts by the state to derail the case.
The upcoming trial in Helena would be the first of its kind in the
United States, according to experts in climate law who said the nation
is lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of climate
litigation.
However, because of prior rulings that limited the scope of the
Montana case, a victory for the plaintiffs would not automatically
alter the state’s regulation of fossil fuels.
Attorneys for the 16 young plaintiffs alleged state officials were
trying to avoid the upcoming trial when Republican lawmakers in March
repealed the state’s energy policy — one of two laws that the case
challenges. The plaintiffs and their backers are hoping to use the
two-week trial that's set to start on June 12 to highlight the dangers
of fossil fuel emissions that scientists say are making climate change
worse.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, had asked state
Judge Kathy Seeley to dismiss any part of the case touching on the
cancelled energy policy. Attorneys for the state also wanted more time
to resolve a dispute over recent amendments to a law that allows
officials to ignore greenhouse gas emissions when approving
fossil-fuel projects.
The judge was not swayed.
“I would suggest you continue to prepare for trial,” Seeley told
attorneys at the end of a Friday court hearing. “I’m not intending to
just stop everything so that we can spend months wrapped around that
spoke."
The case was brought in 2020 by attorneys for the environmental group
Our Children's Trust, which since 2010 has filed climate lawsuits in
every state on behalf of youth plaintiffs. Many cases — including a
previous one in Montana — have been dismissed.
The latest Montana lawsuit originally sought in part to repeal a state
policy promoting coal, gas and oil development. Scientists say burning
those fuels is largely driving climate change by releasing
planet-warming carbon dioxide.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Philip Gregory, told The Associated
Press the policy was repealed by the Legislature “not because the
state has committed to changing its fossil fuel policy and actions,
but because the state seeks to avoid standing trial.”
He said the state’s continued support for fossil fuels violates
environmental protections in the Montana Constitution, which says the
state “shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in
Montana for present and all future generations.”
The lawsuit documents how the consequences of climate change already
are being felt by the young plaintiffs, with smoke from worsening
wildfires choking the air they breathe and drought drying rivers that
sustain agriculture, fish and wildlife.
The state argued that the plaintiffs were resorting to “emotional
appeals” about the dangers of climate change, regardless of whether
their legal claims have merit. They should have challenged specific
laws that allow state agencies to issue permits for fossil fuel
projects, said Assistant Attorney General Michael Russell.
When plaintiff's attorney Roger Sullivan said that Montana had never
denied a fossil fuel development permit, Russell said projects that
meet state requirements cannot be denied.
Judge Seeley already narrowed the scope of the case, ruling in 2021
that it was outside her power to issue a requested order that would
have forced the state to craft a greenhouse gas reduction plan. The
judge also said she could not order the state to complete an inventory
of emissions caused by fossil fuels.
In both instances, Seeley said such work should be left to experts in
the executive and legislative branches of government.
But Seeley said the court could declare that the state was in
violation of the Constitution, without ordering that anything be done
in response.
Sandra Nichols Thiam, an attorney with the Environmental Law
Institute, said that could further the case of the failure of
governments to address climate change.
“It’s highly significant that this case is going to trial at all,”
Thiam said. "Getting all of this information on the record will be a
major advancement in climate litigation.”
The sponsor of the measure that repealed the energy policy, Republican
Rep. Steve Gunderson, did not return a call seeking comment. He said
when it was under consideration before the Legislature that the policy
was meaningless and outdated.
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