I didn't intend to do another blog post before the New Year, but this was too noteworthy to pass up. The Montana Supreme court has upheld a district court ruling in Held v. Montana affirming the case's 16 young plaintiffs have a "fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment."
I wrote a post about this back on August 14, 2023, shortly after a Montana district court ruled in the plaintiffs' favor. The state of Montana -- which had routinely excluded lease applications for fossil fuel projects from review under the Montana Environmental Policy Act -- appealed the decision to the state's Supreme Court. In a resounding 6 to 1 decision, the court's order read, in part, "We reject the argument that the delegates [to Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention] -- intending the strongest, all-encompassing environmental protections in the nation, both anticipatory and preventative, for present and future generations -- would grant the State a free pass to pollute the Montana environment just because the rest of the world insisted on doing so."
When asked to describe the potential implications of the ruling on other climate-oriented litigation, one of plaintiffs' attorneys, Roger Sullivan, said there would be ripple effects beyond Montana. The court's landmark decision is being reported across the US and internationally.
Read more details on this from Reuters reporting and listen to a brief video summary of the court's ruling and its implications.
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