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In 2020, 16 youth from the US state of Montana sued their government. They claim Montana’s continued embrace of fossil fuels violates their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.”
The trial is underway. SEI Affiliated Researcher Peter Erickson testified on the youth’s behalf, detailing Montana’s outsized carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel reserves.
Local news sites Montana Free Press and Flathead Beacon have followed the trial, as well as the national Climatewire.
Photo: Phil Agustavo / Getty Images
SEI’s Peter Erickson testified on behalf of 16 Montana youth last week who sued the state government in a high-profile climate case. The lawsuit claims Montana does not consider greenhouse gas emissions when granting permits to extract from its vast reserve of oil and gas. That, they say, violates the state Constitution, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment.
An ongoing series on the case, published in a joint effort by Montana Free Press and Flathead Beacon, included Erickson’s comments. He had calculated the state’s annual carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the extraction, transportation and burning of fossil fuels.
He found that Montana emits the sixth-highest volume of greenhouse gas emissions per capita among US states, and also more than the total amount from 100 countries.
And the state has the potential to extract and burn even more. It contains the largest recoverable coal deposits in the US, as well as 10 times more oil than the state’s 4,000 oil wells currently draw.
“Montana is only — quite literally — scratching the surface of the fossil fuels that … are still underground,” he said.
Everybody has a responsibility to reduce emissions.
Peter Erickson, SEI Affiliated Researcher
He also rejected the state’s claim that Montana contributes an insignificant amount of greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.
“Everybody has a responsibility to reduce emissions,” he said. “[That characterization] misrepresents the importance of Montana’s substantial carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gas emissions, and the cooperative nature of the effort to limit global warming.”
National environmental news site Climatewire also covered Erickson’s testimony, again highlighting Montana’s disproportionate emissions and its responsibility to curb the activities that contribute to them.
“Every ton of CO2 emitted in the world is equivalent to any another,” Erickson said. “Montana’s emissions matter.”
The lightly edited audio of Erickson’s testimony can also be found at Montana’s Forthright Radio.
Feature / SEI's work has been cited in consequential domestic and international decisions against major global polluters for their contributions to the climate crisis.
Initiative / The Carbon Lock-In Initiative seeks to uncover and address the barriers that uphold the fossil fuel-based economy.
Feature / Citing climate change concerns, a United States federal judge used SEI research on greenhouse gas emissions to halt Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases.
Media advisory / SEI Senior Scientist Peter Erickson comments on the verdict, which says Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels.
Other publication / In a letter submitted to the District Court of The Hague, SEI Senior Scientist Peter Erickson criticizes a Shell-commissioned report on oil and gas production.
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