Landmark Ruling: Montana Judge Protects Constitutional Right to a Clean Environment in Historic Climate Trial

2023-08-14 19:23:50

It is a historic victory. A Montana judge ruled on Monday, August 14, for young people who accused their state of violating their constitutional right to a “clean and healthy environment” by favoring the fossil fuel industry, a historic decision in the first major climate trial. in the USA.

The judge declared unconstitutional a Montana law prohibiting the local administration from taking into account the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions on the climate when it must grant or not to grant permits to fossil fuel companies. This law is therefore canceled, decided the judge Kathy Seeley.

“The plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment, which includes the climate,” she wrote in her more than 100-page verdict. The sixteen plaintiffs, who did not ask for financial compensation, are aged between 5 and 22 years old.

The trial was held in mid-June in Helena, Montana (north). They had then told how their health, their well-being, or the finances of their families were upset. This is the first time that the constitution of an American state has been invoked in court to attack local authorities on a climate issue.

The decision might have significant consequences on future cases. Many similar lawsuits have been filed across the country.

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