Montana's youth fight to uphold climate case victory against new laws

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A group of young activists sued Montana on Wednesday to protect their court victory in a landmark climate change case from new state laws designed to boost fossil fuel use and shorten environmental reviews.

The plaintiffs, aged 15 to 24, were part of the earlier case in which the Montana Supreme Court in 2024 found the state violated the rights of young people by prohibiting consideration of climate impacts when issuing permits for coal mining, natural gas extraction and other fossil fuel projects.

The lawsuit, filed directly with the Montana Supreme Court, challenges recent amendments to the Montana Environmental Policy Act and Montana Clean Air Act, which aim to exclude consideration of climate change from permitting for new fossil fuel projects. The amendments also prevent Montana from regulating greenhouse gases more strictly than existing federal regulations.

The youth activists, represented by the nonprofit Our Children's Trust, claim that the new amendments directly contradict that court ruling, which found the state constitution guarantees a right to a stable climate.

They are asking the court to declare the new laws unconstitutional and to enjoin their enforcement. The lawsuit named Montana, its governor, and the state Department of Environmental Quality as defendants.

"Montana's leaders are openly defying the Constitution and the Supreme Court," said Nate Bellinger, the lead attorney representing the activists. "The plaintiffs are asking the Supreme Court to enforce its prior judgment and restore agencies' ability to consider and regulate greenhouse gas pollution before more irreversible harm is done."

A spokesman for Montana's Republican governor Gregory Gianforte did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Gianforte referenced the earlier court case when signing the new amendments into law in May, saying that the legal changes would protect Montana’s energy industry.

"Last year, the Montana Supreme Court issued a series of rulings that if left unchecked would have impacted Montana’s energy sector at a time when Americans have seen electricity costs soar nearly 30 percent in the last four years,” Gianforte said in a press release.

Montana's Republican House Speaker Brandon Ler, who sponsored one of the amendments, said in May that the earlier court ruling "tried to twist MEPA into something it was never meant to be – a tool to deny permits and block development."

The plaintiffs initially sued in 2020, claiming the state's permitting processes violated a 1972 amendment to the Montana constitution requiring the state to protect and improve the environment.

The climate activists also sued in Montana's federal court over U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-fossil fuel energy policies, but that lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year.

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