Since the historic Held v. State of Montana trial began on June 12, 2023, in the Lewis and Clark County District Court in Helena, MT, Judge Kathy Seeley presiding, we recorded and archived the audio to preserve the record to inform and allow listeners to hear for themselves what transpired.

In this edition we share the unedited recording of the testimony of Anne Hedges, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), where she has worked for 3 decades. She testified to the history of environmental policies, research and laws, documenting the State’s was well aware of the growing need to protect Montana’s environment and the dangers of climate change and fossil fuels since 1968. She testified to the specific changes to laws such as Senate Bill 233’s 2011 Amendments to the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), as well as House Bill 971 by the 2023 Montana Legislature, which the Plaintiff’s referred to as the MEPA Climate Change Limitation. She spoke of the 2011 Amendments to State Energy Policy in Senate Bill 305, The Energy Policy Act, as well as specific patterns & practices of permitting Fossil Fuel Projects.

She asserted that the Legislature is hostile to a clean energy transition, and that the only way that the State will implement the Constitutional protections guaranteed to the Youth Plaintiffs is if the Court requires them to do so.

For the first time in the United States, youth plaintiffs were able to present their case in a court of law, that their inalienable constitutional rights under Article II Section 3 of the Montana State Constitution “to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life’s basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways.” ….. were being denied and violated by the policies and actions of their government. Further, that The State was in violation of their responsibilities as required under Article IX, Environment and Natural Resources, Section 1. Protection and Improvement that “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. Section 2. The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty. and Section 3. The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.”