In an Opinion published Wed., Dec. 18, 2024, the Montana Supreme Court held that the State of Montana had violated Montanans' right to a clean and healthful environment by prohibiting consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change in the State's environmental review procedures. The case, Held v. Montana, involved constitutional challenges brought by youth plaintiffs to two provisions of the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA).
In 1971, MEPA was promulgated as a state counterpart to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). MEPA imposes requirements for environmental review of state actions that may impact the human environment.1 Like NEPA, MEPA's requirements are procedural, not substantive. If a state action has the potential to impact the human environment (adversely, beneficially, or both), and if that action is neither categorically excluded nor exempt from MEPA review, then some form of environmental review is required before the action is taken. Typically, MEPA review takes the form an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS).2
The Held Plaintiffs challenged two MEPA provisions that prevented state agencies from considering GHG emission in their MEPA review. The first provision, ' 75-1-201(2)(a), also referred to as the "MEPA Limitation," prohibited state agencies from considering GHG emissions and corresponding impacts to the climate in the state or beyond the state's borders, unless required by a federal agency.3 The second provision, ' 75-1-201(6)(a)(ii), also referred to as the "MEPA Court Limitation," restricted the authority of courts to address any GHG or climate impacts, or lack thereof, in a MEPA review.4
The Held Plaintiffs alleged that these two provisions violated their right to a clean and healthful environment guaranteed under the Montana Constitution. Specifically, Article II, Section 3 of the Montana Constitution provides "the right to a clean and healthful environment" and Article IX, Section 1 provides that "[t]he state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations" and "[t]he legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources."
On Aug. 14, 2023, Montana's First Judicial District Court ruled in favor of Plaintiffs, holding that both MEPA provisions violate the Montana Constitution. The District Court found that global temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate; this warming is the direct result of GHG emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels; Montana is heating faster than the global average; and climate change harms children, including the youth...
