YOUTH ASK FOR HISTORIC ORDER IN CLIMATE TRIAL

CLARK MINDOCK

A LAWYER for 16 young people has asked a Montana judge for a historic order, declaring the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies violated their rights, wrapping up arguments in the first youth-led US climate change lawsuit to make it to trial.

Judge Kathy Seeley, in Helena, took the case under consideration after hearing from 12 of the plaintiffs. The youth described how the state’s policies were exacerbating climate change. Nate Bellinger, an attorney for the young people, said during his closing statement that Seeley should issue a judgment that the state’s approval of fossil fuel projects violated a state constitutional guarantee to a “clean and healthful environment”.

Montana Assistant Attorney General Michael Russell countered that the courts were no place to set climate policy, and the plaintiffs hadn’t proved that Montana’s small emissions could be blamed for a global crisis.

The trial began on June 12, three years after the youth plaintiffs, now between the ages of five and 22, filed their lawsuit. It is one of several youth-led constitutional climate cases pending in courts across the US.

Attorneys for the state said the youth had failed to target a specific policy upon which relief could be granted. Government officials said agencies like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality did not have the authority to deny lawful permits. | REUTERS