Climate Point: Kids take Montana to court over climate change

The long-predicted results of climate change keep materializing, including worse wildfires and droughts, crumbling shorelines, and even deteriorating home insurance options.

“Whether or not you believe climate change is a problem, your data-driven insurance company already does — and it's responding, in most cases faster than government regulators,” writes Paste BN’s Trevor Hughes in a compelling overview of the phenomenon.  

Meanwhile, a new report by Net Zero Tracker called pledges by fossil fuel companies — whose products are the main cause of climate change — to meet voluntary emissions targets “largely meaningless." BBC and others dropped ads by oil and gas giant Shell Plc last week, after Britain’s advertising authority found its clean energy claims were misleading.

Shell, fresh off its biggest profits in 115 years, told investors Wednesday it plans to boost fossil fuel production, though it still aims to “zero out” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Critics say to meet that target, the company must cut production now, not increase it. Shell execs touted the fact that natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than coal. As NPR reports, the company also said it already met its goal of reducing oil production by 20% by 2030 — not by slashing drilling, but by selling some of those operations to rival ConocoPhillips.

Shell’s actions come after a 2021 Dutch court ordered it to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030. The company is appealing that decision. 

A spate of other legal cases are underway to try to rein in emissions. On Monday, a trial in the case of 16 young people against Montana began, three years after they sued state officials for failing to take action to curb global warming. The case is the first such climate change lawsuit to reach trial, reports the Associated Press, among dozens filed across the U.S. They want to persuade a judge that the state’s promotion of fossil fuel development violates its constitution, which requires the government to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment.”

“I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part," testified Rikki Held, now 22, who said wildfire, floods and drought have all harmed her family's cattle ranch. “You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.”

A high school athlete, who along with 15 other young people took Montana to court, testified Tuesday that increased smoke from forest fires makes it difficult for him to compete and that a doctor prescribed an inhaler to help his breathing problems.

Mica Kantor, now 15, testified Wednesday that he has been worried about climate change since he was 4, and that increased forest fire smoke and warmer winters make its difficult for him to compete, hike, run, snowboard or go fishing, and that a forest fie near his home was "terrifying."

A state lawyer said sparsely-populated Montana produces “minuscule” emissions on a global scale. But Held’s family ranch is near some of the planet’s most abundant coal reserves in the sprawling Powder River Basin. State officials continue to promote that fuel for market export despite scientific consensus that fossil fuels are worsening climate change.

The judge has said she could rule that state policy exempting greenhouse gasses from its Environmental Policy Act is at odds with its constitution, but that she can’t tell the legislature how to fix it.

Environmentalists say the bench trial marks a turning point from suits elsewhere that were dismissed. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York have similar constitutional protections. A favorable decision could also add to global rulings that have declared governments have a duty to protect citizens from climate change. 

Read on for more, including federal proposals to carve out sacred tribal lands and sensitive habitat from large renewable development on public lands, a spike in asthma cases and potential long-term impacts of recent wildfire smoke across the Northeast, and a new read by a prominent clean water advocate. Plus, two bright spots: a rare California condor chick has survived. And if you haven't seen "Grandma Joy," 93, and her grandson Ryan's epic trip to all 63 national parks yet, you're in for a treat.

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