We’re All in This Together
RIKKI HELD V. MONTANA
CLIMATE VICTORY!
Rikki Held grew up in rural Montana’s Powder River Basin on a 7,000-acre cattle ranch. In 2020 she and fifteen other youth, then ages 2 to 18, filed suit to enforce the Montana constitution’s promise to protect a “clean and healthful environment,” for “present and future generations.” Only six states have such protections in their constitution; Montana’s is the strongest. A huge victory for the climate movement came in August, with the court’s detailed decision in Held v. Montana.
Held v. Montana
Bending to fossil fuel interests, Montana enacted the Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and later the MEPA Limitation. These actions in effect forbid the state from considering the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) or climate change in environmental reviews and permitting. The Held lawsuit, brought by Our Children’s Trust, zeroed in on the devastating consequences.
A bench trial was held in front of Judge Kathy Seeley. She heard each child describe how Montana’s climate deterioration was impacting their health and culture. Experts, including pediatrician and CCL member Lori Byron, M.D., testified about huge GHG emissions and consequent health risks.
In her precise findings Judge Seeley adopted the evidence presented and incorporated significant details into her ruling. For example, she wrote, “As long as there is an energy imbalance, the Earth will continue to heat, ice will continue to melt, and weather patterns will become more extreme. If more GHGs are
added to the atmosphere and more incoming energy received from the sun is trapped as thermal energy, the Earth’s climate system will continue to heat up.”
She found the evidence compelling that climate change affects youth disproportionately. “Children breathe in more air per unit of time than adults and consume more food and water proportional to their body weight, making children more susceptible to polluted or contaminated air, water, or food.” And that, “Typical child behavior and physiology – which involves spending more time recreating outdoors and more difficulty self-regulating body temperature – render children more susceptible to excess heat, poor air quality, and other climate change impacts.“
A Roadmap for the Future
The MEPA statutes were deemed unconstitutional and were permanently enjoined. This is the first U.S. decision after a trial that finds a governmental duty to protect citizens from the effects of climate change. It offers a roadmap for future plaintiffs.
FMI
Read Judge Seeley’s Order and docket entries at https://climatecasechart.com/case/11091/.
Charles March, Esq. is a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Portland Chapter.
