BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by young climate activists seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders boosting fossil fuels and banning renewable energy.
The activists said the orders would worsen global warming, endanger their lives and violate their constitutional rights.
Lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice and more than a dozen states had asked Judge Dana Christensen to dismiss the case.
The plaintiffs included teenagers who won a groundbreaking climate case against the state of Montana. During a two-day hearing last month in Missoula, the activists and experts who testified on their behalf called Trump’s actions to promote drilling and mining and curb renewable energy a growing danger to children and the planet.
Christensen said in a 31-page order that the plaintiffs have presented “overwhelming evidence” that climate change affects them and will get worse as a result of Trump’s orders.
But the judge said her request to block Trump’s orders was an “unfeasible request” that would have required a review of all climate-related actions taken since the Republican took office. Christensen said the plaintiffs need to present their case not to the courts but to “the political branches or the electorate.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said the ruling was a victory “not only for the Trump administration, but also for the American people, who voted for President Trump to unlock America’s energy dominance, lower prices and protect our national security.”
“President Trump saved our country from Joe Biden’s wildly unpopular green energy scam and he will continue to say ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL,'” Rogers added.
The 22 plaintiffs included teenagers and young adults from Montana and several other states.
Legal experts said the young activists and their lawyers from the environmental group Our Children’s Trust had a great chance. The Montana state constitution states that people have a “right to a clean and healthy environment.” This wording is missing from the US Constitution.
The activists will appeal Wednesday’s ruling, said Julia Olson, chief legal counsel at Our Children’s Trust.
“Every day that these orders remain in effect, these 22 young Americans will suffer irreparable harm to their health, safety and future,” Olson said. “The judge acknowledged that the government’s fossil fuel policies are harming these youth, but said his hands were tied by precedent.”
A previous federal climate lawsuit by Our Children’s Trust in Oregon lasted a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its latest appeal this year.
Citing that case, Christensen concluded that the Montana plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the government. That’s because they failed to demonstrate that their request for judicial intervention was capable of remedying their injuries through measures within the court’s power, the judge wrote.
“This Court is certainly troubled by the very real harms caused by climate change,” Christensen wrote. “This concern does not automatically give her authority to act.”
Only a few other states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York, have enshrined environmental protections in their constitutions.
Carbon dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels are burned, stores heat in the atmosphere and is largely responsible for warming the climate.
The Montana Supreme Court last year upheld the outcome of the 2023 trial and ordered officials to more closely analyze climate-warming emissions. So far, this has led to little significant change in a Republican-dominated state.
