Young environmental activists scored what experts described as a groundbreaking legal victory Monday when a Montana judge said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by allowing fossil fuel development.
District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found the policy the state uses in evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits -- which does not allow agencies to look at greenhouse gas emissions -- is unconstitutional.
The judge rejected the state's argument that Montana's emissions are insignificant, saying they were "a substantial factor" in climate change. Montana is a major producer of coal burned for electricity and has large oil and gas reserves. Only a few states, including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York, have constitutions with similar environmental protections.
Claire Vlases was 17 years old when she became a plaintiff in the case. Now 20 and working as a ski instructor, she said climate change hangs over every aspect of her life. Attorneys for the 16 plaintiffs, ranging in age from 5 to 22, presented evidence during the two-week trial that increasing carbon dioxide emissions are driving hotter temperatures, more drought and wildfires and decreased snowpack.
Seeley said the state's attorneys failed to give a compelling reason for why they were not evaluating greenhouse gas emissions. She rejected the notion that Montana's greenhouse gas emissions are insignificant and noted that renewable power is "technically feasible and economically beneficial," citing testimony from the trial indicating Montana could replace 80% of existing fossil fuel energy by 2030.
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