Youth Plaintiffs' Suit For Climate Justice Heads To Historic Trial In Montana
Julia Olson - Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel, Our Children’s Trust
On February 6, 2023, Held v. State of Montana will become the first constitutional climate trial - and first ever children’s climate trial - in U.S. history. During trial, attorneys for the youth plaintiffs - 16 young Montanans - will present evidence in open court proving that, by supporting a fossil fuel-driven energy system, the state of Montana causes and contributes to dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions and therefore is responsible for the climate-related injuries the youth suffer in violation of their rights under the Montana Constitution. Those rights include a clean and healthful environment; the ability to seek safety, health, and happiness; and individual dignity and equal protection of the law. In addition, the suit alleges that Montana’s fossil fuel energy system degrades and depletes constitutionally protected public trust resources, including the atmosphere, rivers, lakes, fish, and wildlife.
This landmark case is one of many constitutional climate lawsuits spearheaded by the nonprofit public interest law firm, Our Children’s Trust, who also represent and support youth in the federal constitutional climate case Juliana v. U.S. and legal actions pending in Florida, Virginia, and Utah.
The sixteen youth plaintiffs in the case: Held v State of Montana.
Filed in March 2020, the state responded to Held v. State of Montana by filing a motion to dismiss the youths’ claims for declaratory and injunctive relief. However, in August 2020, the court ruled that the youth may proceed on their claims for declaratory relief. As a result, the case will now proceed to trial, scheduled for February 6-17, 2023 [note: trial is now scheduled to commence June 12] at the First Judicial District Court in Helena, Montana.
“This trial is an unprecedented opportunity to present a full factual record before the court establishing how the State of Montana’s ongoing actions to promote fossil fuels are causing and contributing to the climate crisis and resulting in grave injuries to these 16 youth plaintiffs,” said Nate Bellinger, Our Children’s Trust senior staff attorney and co-counsel for the plaintiffs. Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel at Our Children’s Trust, added “This trial is an enormous step toward protecting children’s rights to a safe climate, not only in Montana but across the United States and around the world.”
Grace, one of the Held v. State of Montana youth plaintiffs, noted, “Going to trial means a chance for me and my fellow plaintiffs to have our climate injuries recognized and a solution realized. It means our voices are actually being heard by the courts, the government, the people who serve to protect us as citizens and Montana’s youth. Knowing that we have the dates for the first youth constitutional climate case ever, I feel hopeful that finally our government may begin to serve our best interests.”
The lawsuit is part of a national strategy that includes the landmark case Juliana v US, brought by the 21 youth plaintiffs pictured above.
Montana is one of only a handful of states that recognizes a fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment in their constitution, and that includes the atmosphere. However, the state also has a long history of promoting fossil fuels and exacerbating the climate crisis through atmospheric pollution, leading to climate impacts like “dangerously increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, increasing droughts and extreme weather events, increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, increasing glacial melt, and causing numerous adverse health risks, especially to children.”.
Counsel for the Montana plaintiffs include Nate Bellinger of Our Children’s Trust, Roger Sullivan and Dustin Leftridge of McGarvey Law, and Melissa Hornbein of the Western Environmental Law Center.
UPDATE: 03.24.23
The case makes front page news in the New York Times!