Montana judge sides with youth in historic climate trial

A state court said Montana is violating young people’s constitutional right to a clean environment by ignoring the climate effects of fossil fuels.

Judge Kathy Seeley of the 1st District Court in Montana ruled that state lawmakers flouted Montana’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” when they passed a law barring agencies from considering the climate effects of fossil fuel projects.for litigants who want to hold governments and fossil fuel companies accountable for climate change.— which the state vowed to appeal to the Montana Supreme Court — could serve as a model for similar youth-led lawsuits in other states.

Seeley in June heard seven days of testimony, including from young people who said Montana’s reliance on fossil fuels is lengthening the state’s wildfire season, drying up its rivers and worsening health conditions.Spokesperson Emily Flower added that Seeley had allowed attorneys for the youth to “put on a weeklong taxpayer-funded publicity stunt that was supposed to be a trial. “

, had urged Seeley to consider instances in which courts have stepped in to correct governments that had failed to protect human rights.

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