Judge sides with youth activists in historic US climate crisis case.

In a first-of-its-kind trial, US youth accuse Montana of violating their rights through lax environmental policies.

A federal judge in the United States has sided with youth activists who accuse Montana state agencies of violating their constitutional rights to a clean and healthy environment.

In a ruling on Monday, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found that the US state’s policy to evaluate requests for fossil fuel permits is unconstitutional.

She pointed out that the policy — part of the Montana Environmental Policy Act — prevents the state government from weighing the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Montana’s emissions and climate change have been proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment and harm and injury,” Seeley wrote.

The Montana trial is the first of its kind in the United States. It adds to a small but growing number of legal decisions worldwide that have established a government’s duty to protect citizens from climate change.

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Judge sides with youth activists in historic US climate crisis case.

Nevertheless, Julia Olson, a lawyer representing the young people for the environmental group Our Children’s Trust, hailed the decision.

“As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, 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,” Olson said. “This is a huge win for Montana, for youth, for democracy, and for our climate. More rulings like this will certainly come.”

But Emily Flower, spokeswoman for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, dismissed Monday’s decision.

“This ruling is absurd but not surprising from a judge who let the plaintiffs’ attorneys put on a weeklong taxpayer-funded publicity stunt that was supposed to be a trial,” Flower said.

She accused Seeley of being an “ideological judge who bent over backwards to allow the case to move forward” and said the state would appeal.

The 16 plaintiffs in the case range in age from five to 22. During a two-week trial in June, their lawyers presented evidence that increasing carbon dioxide emissions drive hotter temperatures, more droughts and wildfires.

They argued the state’s policies directly affected the well-being of the young people, both physically and mentally.

The state has argued that, even if Montana stopped producing carbon dioxide, it would have “no meaningful impact” because its conditions are relatively small compared with the amount paid globally.

The case is the latest in a trend of youth-led climate lawsuits. In March, a Swedish court gave the green light to a climate lawsuit filed by 20-year-old activist Greta Thunberg and others, alleging the government’s to stem rising temperatures was “insufficient”.

In April, a judge in Ontario also ruled that Canada may consider a lawsuit brought by seven youth activists, charging that the government should rise to the climate change infringed on their human rights.