Plaintiffs Mica, 14; Badge 15, Lander 18, and Taleah, 19, listen to arguments during a status hearing on May 12, 2023, in Helena, Mont., for a case that they and other Montana youth filed against the state arguing Montana officials are not meeting their constitutional obligations to protect residents from climate change. The first-of-its-kind trial begins Monday, June 12, 2023, before District Court Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena. It is scheduled to last for two weeks.
Lawyers representing the state asked for the case to be partially dismissed after the passage of that law, which repealed part of Montana’s energy policy that the lawsuit sought to challenge. But District Court Judge Kathy Seeley denied the state’s request. “It’s hard to watch the things that I love get depleted slowly, like fishing with my dad,” Badge Busse, a 15-year-old plaintiff,A 2016 Environmental Protection Agencyclimate change over the next few decades would likely “decrease the availability of water in Montana, affect agricultural yields, and further increase the risk of wildfires.” Montana’s glaciers have also been melting rapidly, with the EPA saying that several glaciers are likely to disappear by 2030 if no change is made.