MPA Executive Director: Climate Change Ruling Impacts All Montana Industries

"Real Consequences of This Are Yet to Be Determined"

The Montana Petroleum Association Executive Director said that the recent decision by the Montana Supreme Court in the Held v. Montana case will have “consequential effects” on all industries in Montana.

For Montana’s private and public businesses, Sonny Capece told The Montana Chronicles that the playing field for how they operate “is going to change.”

“I think the real consequences of this are yet to be determined,” he said.

Capece wasn’t sure how the ruling would affect the petroleum industry in Montana.

“I think everyone, at least in the petroleum and gas world, is just kind of bracing and waiting to see what is going to happen as those new laws are applied,” he said.

In December 2024, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 16 youth plaintiffs who had sued Montana in 2020 “over its promotion of fossil fuel extraction and its failure to consider climate change impacts in its decision-making,” according to Our Children’s Trust.

This organization filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs.

“Plaintiffs have standing to challenge the injury to their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment,” the ruling said. “Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment was violated by the [Montana Environmental Protection Act] Limitation, which precluded an analysis of GHG emissions in environmental assessments and environmental impact statements during [Montana Environmental Protection Act ] review.”

After the ruling, Gov. Greg Gianforte said the state Supreme Court “continues to step outside its lane.”

“This decision does nothing more than declare open season on Montana’s all-of-the-above approach to energy, which is key to providing affordable and reliable energy to homes, schools, and businesses across our state,” he said.

Nate Bellinger, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said the ruling was “a monumental moment for Montana, our youth, and the future of our planet.”

“The court said loud and clear: Montana's Constitution does not grant the state a free pass to ignore climate change because others fail to act--this landmark decision underscores the state's affirmative duty to lead by example,” he said.

Despite this ruling from the state Supreme Court, Capece said that “a lot of new legislation in the upcoming” Montana legislative session will address the Montana Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) “as the Held decision applies to it.”

MEPA says “that each person is entitled to a healthful environment, that each person is entitled to use and enjoy that person's private property free of undue government regulation, that each person has the right to pursue life's basic necessities, and that each person has a responsibility to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment. The implementation of these rights requires the balancing of the competing interests associated with the rights by the legislature in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.”

As an organization, Capece said MPA is not pushing a ton of new legislation in the upcoming Montana legislative session.

Capece said the Montana petroleum industry wants to operate as efficiently as possible under the current set of rules.

At the federal level, the executive director said he would like the upcoming administration to lift the liquid natural gas export ban, which Biden put in place in January 2024.

“We produce a lot of gas here. And that would open up a lot of opportunities for our producers,” he said.

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Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.