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 Youth Plaintiff, Kian Tanner, from Big Fork, MT. He is 18 and was 14 when the case was filed (although he turned 15 the next day).  He testified that Montana’s increasingly hot summers and more frequent wildfires are interfering with where he feels “most at home” — the soccer pitch. He described being depressed by the multiple practices and games cancelled or cut short due to dangerous smoke. The extreme heat prevents him from competing to the best of his ability.
During the summer of 2022, the Elmo Fire scorched 21,349 acres of land to the southwest of Flathead Lake, for days the Big Fork area was dense with smoke. He described July, August and September as the fire months in Montana. He described the smoke as “a limiting factor for my childhood.”
He spoke of the impact to his family’s property with the many dead & dying trees from beetle infestations, that are no longer killed by winter cold, one of which fell on his house causing significant damage.

He said he joined the suit to try to make change for the better.

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.”