Judge Rules Montana Fossil Fuel Law Violated Young Plaintiffs’ Right to a Clean and Healthful Environment – By Angely Mercado (Gizmodo) / Aug 14, 2023
Legal counsel for Held v Montana has called this ruling a “game changer” in the younger generations’ efforts to save the planet.
The Montana judge who heard the United States’ first constitutional climate trial has officially ruled in favor of the young plaintiffs who argued that the state’s officials had violated their rights in favor of fossil fuel interests.
In a 103-page decision, Judge Kathy Seeley agreed that additional greenhouse gasses will further strengthen the negative impacts of climate change. Her ruling found that laws intended to prevent regulators from considering how permitting fossil fuel activities will affect the climate crisis are indeed unconstitutional.
Today’s decision specifically targets an adjustment in the Montana Environmental Policy Act, also known as MEPA, that stops the state from considering how fossil fuel activities affect climate change. This year, lawmakers in Montana changed the provision to ban the state from considering emissions in its environmental reviews for future energy projects, The Guardian reported.
“The MEPA limitation violates plaintiffs’ right to a clean and healthful environment,” today’s ruling said.
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