Held v State of Montana

The Montana District Court ruled in favor of sixteen youth claimants, finding that the 'Climate Change Exception' in the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) is unconstitutional because it violates the claimants' fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment. The court determined that Montana's greenhouse gas emissions, linked to the MEPA limitation, are a substantial factor in causing climate impacts in the state. While the court granted declaratory relief, it dismissed claims for injunctive relief, such as a remedial climate plan, citing the political question doctrine.

• The Montana District Court ruled that the 'Climate Change Exception' to the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA)—which prohibits environmental reviews from considering impacts beyond Montana's borders—is invalid and unconstitutional. The court found this provision violates the claimants' fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment.
• The court established that greenhouse gas emissions from Montana, which are traceable to the MEPA limitation, contribute significantly to the environmental damage within the state and cause direct harm to the youth claimants.
• The court granted the youth claimants standing to bring the case and recognized their fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment, though it dismissed requests for injunctive relief (such as a remedial climate plan) on the grounds that such remedies fall under the political question doctrine.

APA

Contributor, C. (2023). Held v State of Montana. ClimaTalk. https://climatalk.org/2023/10/31/held-v-state-of-montana/

Chicago

Contributor, ClimaTalk. Held v State of Montana. ClimaTalk, 2023. https://climatalk.org/2023/10/31/held-v-state-of-montana/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Contributor |first1=ClimaTalk |title=Held v State of Montana |publisher=ClimaTalk |date=31 October 2023 |url=https://climatalk.org/2023/10/31/held-v-state-of-montana/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{contributor2023held, author = {Contributor, ClimaTalk}, title = {{Held v State of Montana}}, institution = {ClimaTalk}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://climatalk.org/2023/10/31/held-v-state-of-montana/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }