On Monday, 16 youths from Montana will begin the first-ever climate change trial in the United States. They claim that officials violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment.
In March 2020, 16 youths filed a lawsuit against the state, which is the first climate-related litigation in US history.
And the newspaper ” The Guardian ” quotes Grace Gibson Snyder, who is one of those who filed this lawsuit at the age of 19, that they are asking the government, through this case, to do its work to protect the population.
Human rights advocates hope the trial will set a precedent for similar cases moving forward and inspire legal action in other states.
Montana’s constitution since 1972 guarantees that “the state and every person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthy environment for present and future generations.”
Plaintiffs say the state, by subsidizing fossil fuels, has failed to meet that responsibility.
Snyder sees this case, which was brought on the youth by a non-profit law firm called Our Children’s Trust, as an opportunity for the state of Montana to become a leader in preserving a secure and prosperous future for its residents.
She explains that the court’s consideration of their case “is an opportunity to present the full story of how the government seeks to promote fossil fuels, how these policies exacerbate climate change, and how this in turn harms the population.”
This trial is scheduled to last two weeks, to June 23. But the judge’s decision may take longer, depending on the evidence and requests from the court, defense and state authorities.
The plaintiffs point to two basic Montana laws they claim are unconstitutional. The first relates to state energy policy, which directs energy production and use at the state level, as well as a portion of Montana’s Environmental Policy Act, which prevents the state from looking at how the energy economy contributes to climate change. the climate.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers struck down the state’s energy policy in what lawyers for the case asserted was a veiled attempt to avoid prosecution.
In May, Judge Kathy Seeley dismissed the state’s appeal against the lawsuit, allowing the trial to proceed.
