When they first initiated the lawsuit, most people thought they were crazy, but Kathy Seeley, District Court Judge for Lewis and Clark County, Montana, after a trial, ruled that Montana’s State Constitution guaranteeing a “right to a clean and healthful environment” meant that the State had to consider pollution and climate change when issuing oil and gas permits.
Brought by The Children’s Trust, representing 16 young people who argued that the State law forbidding consideration of greenhouse gas emission in issuing oil and gas permits is unconstitutional. The judge made findings of fact based on expert testimony as well as conclusions of law. Needless to say, the fossil fuel lobby is beside itself.
Our Founders believed in a concept called posterity. The preamble to the Constitution states its purpose is to “secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” meaning future generations. The 16 young people who were the plaintiffs in Held v. Montana believe that the future of the planet must be protected for them as well as us.
Prayer for the Day
Let all the earth bless God, Creator and Sustainer of life,
All that grows from the earth, forest and plain, give praise;
Let the rivers and springs and all who dwell therein, sing to God.
The sound of the dolphins and the leviathan resonate with song.
Let the bellow of frogs and toads join in their praise,
And all peoples of the earth praise God by sustaining the creation.
In the name of the One who gives us life in God,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
This was climate science on trial, and what the court has found as a matter of fact is that the science is right.
- Michael Burger, Sabin Center for Climate Change Litigation, Columbia Univ.
Montana is a major emitter of GHG in the world, in absolute terms, in per person terms and historically. [citations omitted] …The State has known of the dangerous impacts of GHG for at least 30 years [citations omitted]
- Factual Findings No. 222 and 245, Held v. Montana
Thus the heavens and he earth were finished, and all their multitude.
And on the seventh day God finished the work that had been done,
And on the seventh day God rested from all the work that had been done in creation.
Genesis 2: 1-2