"Rikki Held grew up on her family's ranch in Montana, watching the land transform amid the climate crisis. The Powder River, which runs through the property, has sometimes dried up during drought, leaving crops and livestock without water. At other points, rapid snowmelt and heavy rains have caused flooding and eroded riverbanks, making the land difficult to use. Two years ago, the 24-year-old and a group of other young people won a groundbreaking legal victory, intended to prevent those impacts from worsening."
"In August 2023, a judge ruled in favour of plaintiffs in Held v Montana, in which 16 young people accused the state of violating their constitutional rights by promoting planet-warming fossil fuels. The state's supreme court affirmed the judge's findings late last year, but plaintiffs say lawmakers have since passed new laws that violate that ruling. So last week, they filed a new petition calling on the supreme court to enforce their earlier win."
Rikki Held grew up on her family's Montana ranch and witnessed droughts that dried the Powder River, leaving crops and livestock without water. Rapid snowmelt and heavy rains have also caused flooding and riverbank erosion that made the land difficult to use. In August 2023 a judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs in Held v Montana, finding that 16 young people had constitutional claims against state promotion of fossil fuels. The state supreme court later affirmed those findings, but plaintiffs say subsequent laws passed by lawmakers violate the ruling and filed a petition asking the supreme court to enforce the earlier decision. Our Children's Trust represented youth in additional 2025 accountability-focused climate lawsuits against federal pro-fossil fuel policies; a federal case was dismissed and appealed.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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