ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Since 2015, groups of young people have been suing state and federal governments over climate change. Only one of those suits has made it to trial, in Montana. And in December, the young people won at the state Supreme Court. Conservative Montana lawmakers responded with new bills to get around the decision. Those bills have now been signed into law. Montana Public Radio's Ellis Juhlin reports on what's next.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CHIRPING)
ELLIS JUHLIN, BYLINE: University of Montana junior Olivia Vesovich is taking a break between finals, walking on a trail between campus and the Clark Fork River.
OLIVIA VESOVICH: I don't see any snow on these mountains.
JUHLIN: That's concerning at this time of year. Climate change has been shown to extend Montana's wildfire season.
VESOVICH: I would love if my teenage years were not defined by climate change.
JUHLIN: Vesovich is 1 of the 16 youth plaintiffs who won, based on Montana's constitution guaranteeing the right to a clean and healthy environment. The court ruled that includes a stable climate. The decision outraged conservatives, who argued that because climate change is a global issue, Montana cannot be held responsible for it.
VESOVICH: To watch our legislatures actively dismiss a constitutional ruling is devastating.
JUHLIN: That's not how State Senator Wylie Galt sees it. He calls the decision...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WYLIE GALT: Gift-wrapped present to radical environment activists, an open door for endless lawsuits designed to shut down Montana's fossil fuel industry.
JUHLIN: The federal government estimates that Montana is home to about a third of America's recoverable coal reserves, but the court ordered the state to consider the climate impacts of developing fossil fuel projects and their greenhouse gas emissions.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GALT: It had nothing to do with protecting the environment and everything to do with weaponizing the courts to strangle our economy.
JUHLIN: A new law Galt sponsored appears to thread the needle of the court's decision. Montana will now inventory greenhouse gas emissions, but it won't regulate them. Other new state laws go one step further, barring Montana from regulating planet-warming emissions at all unless the federal government does so first. That's unlikely under the Trump administration. Lawmakers could have tried to change Montana's constitution, eliminating its guarantee of environmental protection, but that's very difficult to do. University of Montana law professor Constance Van Kley says, short of that...
CONSTANCE VAN KLEY: There has been a response to the courts striking down the legislation on the part of the legislature, with the legislature kind of claiming that the Montana judiciary is out of control and super liberal.
JUHLIN: That's been a theme for several years - Montana's conservative lawmakers and governor challenging the authority of the judicial branch. Green groups say Montanans won't stand for the new laws passed in response to the state Supreme Court decision, which means, Van Kley says, more confrontation in and with state courts.
VAN KLEY: I think it's very likely to end up being litigated.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CHIRPING)
JUHLIN: Back on the river trail, Olivia Vesovich says she and countless other young people will continue to feel the effects of human-caused climate change. She says she's disappointed by the Montana Legislature's priorities.
VESOVICH: They care more about protecting the fossil fuel industry than they care about protecting the lives of children.
JUHLIN: She says the longer the state delays on climate action, the worse things will be in the future, and she hopes her lawmakers keep that in mind.
For NPR News, I'm Ellis Juhlin in Missoula, Montana.
(SOUNDBITE OF FREDDIE GIBBS AND MADLIB'S "GAT DAMN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.