Held v. Montana is a constitutional court case in the State of Montana regarding the right to a "clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations":Art. IX, § 1 as required by the Constitution of Montana. The case was filed in March 2020 by Our Children's Trust on behalf of sixteen youth residents of Montana, then aged 2 through 18. On June 12, 2023, the case became the first climate-related constitutional lawsuit to go to trial in the United States. The plaintiffs argued that the state's support of the fossil fuel industry had worsened the effects of climate change on their lives, thus depriving them of their constitutional rights. More specifically, the plaintiffs challenged a provision in the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) that prohibited the state from considering greenhouse gas emissions as a factor when deciding whether to issue permits for energy-related projects. In its defense, the state claimed that regulators were simply following state law and argued that any of Montana's contributions to climate change would need to be addressed through the Montana legislature. The defense called the plaintiffs' case an "airing of political grievances" that is not actionable in court.
On August 14, 2023, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled in favor of the plaintiffs that the limitations on considering environmental factors when deciding oil and gas permits violated the right to a safe environment recited in Montana’s constitution. The ruling was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court on December 18, 2024.
History Mining interests heavily influenced the content of the original (1889) Constitution of Montana, causing subsequent laws to highly favor extractive industry, with some historians even calling the state a "corporate colony". A 1972 constitutional convention added language guaranteeing citizens "the right to a clean and healthful environment"—language that would become central to the Held case. At the time of trial, Montana was one of only three states with constitutions having environmental protections explicitly recited in their bill of rights, thus avoiding a need for plaintiffs to preliminarily prove they have such rights. Despite the 1972 amendment, according to The Guardian, policy experts say Montana officials have shaped state laws around the deeply entrenched financial interests of the fossil fuel industry. For example, in 2011 the state's energy policy was changed to prohibit the state from considering climate change as a factor when deciding whether to issue new permits. In the same year, Montana withdrew from the Western Climate Initiative, an agreement among some western American states and parts of Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In May 2023, Montana Republican lawmakers amended a limitation to the Montana Environmental Protection Act—called the "MEPA limitation"—to make it what was considered the nation’s most aggressive anti-climate action law. Separately, state laws enacted in spring 2023 explicit forbade local governments from banning fossil fuels in building codes, from banning fuel derived from petroleum, and from requiring new construction to have solar panels. In context, in 2023 Montana was the fifth largest coal-producing U.S. state and the twelfth largest oil-producing state. Moreover, since 2003 the state received nearly $650 million from resource extraction—the eighth highest total in the country. In 2011, nonprofit law firm Our Children's Trust asked the Montana Supreme Court to rule that the state has a duty to address climate change. The court declined the request, a decision that made the group start in a lower court. On March 13, 2020, Our Children's Trust and other law firms filed the Held v. Montana complaint in the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, in Helena. The judge denied the state's August 2021 motion to dismiss. In 2022, the Montana attorney general requested that the state Supreme Court take control of the case, asking that discovery be stopped, but the Supreme Court denied both requests. Although over the preceding decade, youth-led climate change lawsuits had been filed in every state, only four of the suits filed by Our Children’s Trust outside of Montana case were still pending as of June 2023. On June 12, 2023, Held became the third climate-related lawsuit in the U.S. to go to trial, and the first climate-related constitutional law case in the U.S. to reach trial. On April 14, 2023, State District Judge Michael Moses ruled that the permit for NorthWestern Energy's $250 million Laurel Generation Station on the Yellowstone River in Montana, was cancelled as the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had misinterpreted the state's environmental law and had failed to consider the long-term consequences of carbon dioxide emissions from the plant, which are estimated at "23 million tons" that "would impact" the town of Billings that is downwind of the Laurel Generation Station. In response to the decision by Judge Moses, on April 15, House Bill 971 was introduced, sponsored by Representative Joshua Kassmier R-Fort Benton and was quickly enacted. Bill 971 exempted the DEQ from "adhering to air quality and emissions standards when authorizing or changing permits". A Senate Bill 557 amendment sponsored by Sen. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, which is very similar to HB 971, and was also a response to the Moses decision on the Laurel plant, was introduced on April 14.
Legal principles
The Held case is based on the constitutional right to a "clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations".:Art. IX, § 1
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