Held V. Montana: Youth climate plaintiffs get day before Montana Supreme Court

<p class="MsoNormal">On July 10, the Montana Supreme Court heard why state leaders think a climate change legal victory by a group of young people should be overturned.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Held vs. Montana found that the legislature violated the state constitution when it blocked environmental agencies from analyzing greenhouse gas emissions in fossil fuel projects.&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In their appeal, state attorneys argued the case should be thrown out because the youths weren&rsquo;t pointing to any specific project that was hurting them. The state also claimed Montana didn&rsquo;t produce enough greenhouse gas to have an impact on global warming, so a court victory wouldn&rsquo;t fix anything the youths were asking for.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The youths drew on a long list of scientists to show how state policies encouraged fossil fuel development, which was ruining the climate they depend for health, business and recreation. A district court judge ruled that violated their right to a &ldquo;clean and healthful environment&rdquo; as specifically listed in the Constitution. That meant the state greenhouse gas limitation was unconstitutional.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But this case is about a lot more than legality of one environmental law. Let&rsquo;s check out what the rest of this iceberg of a lawsuit looks like.</p>