(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – The left’s climate agenda scored what many are calling an outrageous and unsupportable victory in what is described as a landmark trial after a Montana judge ruled in favor of a group of youngsters claiming the state had broken their rights to a clean environment.
The lawsuit in Held v. State of Montana was filed by 16 plaintiffs aged 5 to 22.
“[It] has been closely watched because it could bolster similar litigation that has been filed across the country,” Breitbart News comments.
District Court Judge Kathy Seeley decided to side with the youth plaintiffs by ruling that a Montana law was unconstitutional because it banned state agencies from considering greenhouse gases’ impact when granting permits for the development of fossil fuel resources.
“By prohibiting analysis of GHG0 (greenhouse gas) emissions and corresponding impacts to the climate… the MEPA (Montana Environmental Policy Act) Limitation violates Youth Plaintiffs’ right to a clean and healthful environment and is unconstitutional on its face,” reads Seeley’s 100-page ruling reads.
“Plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life-support system,” the judge added.
The Montana case became the first climate trial with a constitutional claim against a state and one of the few such lawsuits featuring climate experts on the witness stand.
“Today, for the first time in US history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change, and disproportionately imperil young people,” commented Julia Olson, head of the nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, which represented the youngsters.
“Today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos,” she elaborated.
Yet, Montana’s Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, denounced the ruling through his spokeswoman, Emily Flower, who made it clear the state would appeal.
“This ruling is absurd, but not surprising from a judge who let the plaintiffs’ attorneys put on a weeklong taxpayer-funded publicity stunt,” Flower said.
“Montanans can’t be blamed for changing the climate — even the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses agreed that our state has no impact on the global climate,” she declared.
