Montana
Montana’s youth climate activists aren’t stopping at their landmark court win – High Country News
Ripley Cunningham took the microphone and looked out at an audience of about 350 people in the echoey, ornate rotunda of Montana’s state Capitol, her favorite thrift-store flower pendant around her neck. It was January, the start of the legislative session, and the high school senior, a speech and debate star, was emceeing a statewide climate gathering. “I am comforted in knowing that we have an interconnected community of people fighting for the future of our home,” she said. Cunningham, who’d just turned 18, added that she’d not yet been able to vote in an election, but “being here today helps me realize the power that my voice carries and the change that it can create.”
Cunningham and five other members of Green Initiative, a student climate club at Park High School, a public school in Livingston, Montana, had driven hours along icy, wind-drifted roads to get here. Just weeks earlier, Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling in favor of a group of young people who sued the state over its climate inaction in Held v. Montana. Now, state lawmakers had to implement that decision. As Cunningham spoke, the Green Initiative members who were in the audience hoisted a massive sign: “PROTECT OUR HOME.”
Livingston, population about 9,000, is located in a fossil fuel-driven, Republican-led state whose leaders are working to quash any action to slow climate change. But Park High’s Green Initiative is an incubator for climate action, and these students aim to show those in power that there’s still a groundswell of resistance.
“I am comforted in knowing that we have an interconnected community of people fighting for the future of our home.”
Nearly 50 students have come through Green Initiative since the program began in 2017. Former science teacher Alecia Jongeward — who still sponsors the club, though she’s left teaching — started it by sorting through the school’s trash for recyclables with students. They won a small grant to get recycling bins at the school. Then they won more grants and awards, including one for a feasibility study from the state for solar panels on the school that led to the installation of the panels themselves. Members have performed climate-related monologues and held “trashion” shows to highlight sustainable clothing. They’ve served on a state-appointed committee to help Montana review its environmental policies and organized and attended protests. The inaugural statewide climate summit they hosted drew dozens of students from across Montana. Last year, they even won a $400,000 grant from the federal government for electric school buses.
Perhaps most visibly, a Green Initiative participant was one of the 16 plaintiffs in Held who alleged that, through its fossil fuel-centric policies, the state was violating their constitutionally enshrined right to “a clean and healthful environment.” In particular, they challenged a rule related to the Montana Environmental Policy Act, or MEPA, that excluded the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from environmental reviews.
In summer 2023, the case went to trial. Over the course of a week, young people and climate experts took the stand. Home-schooled Green Initiative participant Eva Lighthiser recalled recent climate-related catastrophes that affected Livingston: a parasite outbreak on the Yellowstone River, a historic flood, and oppressive, depressing smoke from wildfires summer after summer. “I felt like I needed to take action, and this felt like a way to do it,” she testified.
In August 2023, the judge ruled against the state, which appealed to the Montana Supreme Court. When the court affirmed the ruling in December, Held became the first case in the country in which youth sued the government over climate change — and won.
“IT GAVE ME a lot of hope that we are going to be able to make independent change within our community and, hopefully, within the state,” said Jorja McCormick, a Green Initiative member who loves hiking and embroiders her own shoes. But the pushback came fast. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Gov. Greg Gianforte, both Republicans, released statements saying the Supreme Court decision would hurt Montana’s economy and lead to endless litigation.
Now, lawmakers have to figure out how to incorporate the decision into the state’s environmental reviews. Republican legislators introduced a suite of bills to reshape such reviews in this year’s legislative session. Proposed laws would exclude whole categories of projects from MEPA, remove language that requires reviews to analyze long-term impacts, strike a sentence that connects MEPA to protecting Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment, and prevent the state from implementing air quality standards stricter than the federal government’s. Another bill tackled the Held decision head-on, mandating that environmental reviews consider only “proximate” impacts. Imagine, say, a coal project on state land: The environmental analysis could include only emissions associated with the mining project itself, not the transport or burning of that coal.
“I felt like I needed to take action, and this felt like a way to do it.”
At the time of writing, the MEPA bills have strong Republican support and seem likely to pass. Asked about the bills at a press conference in February, Gianforte said, “I’m looking forward to getting them on my desk.” Montana Republicans also put forth dozens of bills designed to check what they describe as judicial overreach, in part inspired by the Held decision. In press conferences and podcasts, lawmakers dismissed the students behind the case as “activists” and “a bunch of little Greta Thunbergs.”
The rhetoric and legislation in Montana echo the current federal approach to climate change. But Held paved the way for even larger, nationwide action: Our Children’s Trust, the nonprofit law firm that represented the Held plaintiffs, has active youth climate cases in Alaska, Hawai’i, Utah, Florida and Virginia, with the Held decision providing precedent that these cases can make it to trial, and win. And late last year, the young people pursuing Juliana v. United States appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their claims against the federal government.
The Held case, Jongeward said, fueled the Green Initiative students’ commitment to local environmental action. One member, Oliver Zeman, is an avid kayaker focused on cleaning up local rivers. Home-schooler Anders Harrison is planning an upcoming community hiking trip. Cunningham, the speech and debate standout, is helping students across the state learn how to get involved in the legislative process. Green Initiative alumni have been valedictorians and received full-ride scholarships to college. “They’re amazing,” Jongeward told me. “It’s incredible to see the drive that young people can have if you just give them the platform.”
At a recent meeting, Jongeward started things off with some tough news. The federal grant they’d been awarded for electric school buses was facing some school board opposition. The students, though, were ready to fight.
“I’ll go speak. I’ll go chew ’em out, Ms. J.,” Cunningham said.
The group was overflowing with ideas: They could write a letter, maybe submit it to the local newspaper, and compile air quality data on what the diesel emissions from the current buses mean for the area outside the school. The battle was far from over. (In fact, just before this story went to print, the school board approved the grant.)
McCormick reflected on the Held decision and the kids behind it. “I can get electric buses in our school system; that’s easy, compared to what they did,” she said. “(The case) set the bar, and now we just have to reach it.”
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This article appeared in the April 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Checking in with Montana’s youth climate activists.”
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BOZEMAN — Montana State will begin spring football practices March 24.
The reigning national champion Bobcats will hold 12 practices, two scrimmages and the Sonny Holland Spring Classic over the course of five weeks. The Sonny Holland Spring Classic is scheduled for Saturday, April 25.
Also on the schedule is the MSU Pro Day, which will be held April 2.
In addition to releasing the spring practice schedule, Montana State confirmed the addition of Nolan Askelson to the coaching staff. Askelson, a Billings Senior High School alum, will be an assistant defensive line coach for Bobby Daly, who is returning as Montana State’s defensive coordinator after spending last season at UTEP.
Askelson was a standout linebacker for the Bobcats, capping his MSU career with first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2023. He played in four games as a true freshman in 2018 before becoming a regular rotation player in 2019. An injury shortened his 2021 season, but he played 11 games in 2022 and finished with 64 tackles.
As a senior in 2023, Askelson wore Montana State’s legacy No. 41 jersey and led the team with 84 tackles, eight tackles-for-loss and two sacks.
In high school, he was a two-time all-state selection for Senior and helped the Broncs win Class AA state championships in 2016 and 2017.
Montana State spring football schedule
Tuesday, March 24 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Thursday, March 26 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Friday, March 27 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Monday, March 30 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Wednesday, April 1 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Thursday, April 2 — Pro Day (no practice)
Friday, April 3 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Saturday, April 4 — Practice, 10:05 a.m.
Tuesday, April 7 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Friday, April 10 — Closed scrimmage, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Thursday, April 16 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Saturday, April 18 — Closed scrimmage, 10:05 a.m.
Tuesday, April 21 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Thursday, April 23 — Practice, 7:05 a.m.
Saturday, April 25 — Sonny Holland Spring Classic, 1 p.m.
Although newly minted GOP candidates for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate have garnered heavyweight endorsements, the Montana Republican Party said Thursday it won’t throw its support behind any candidates for federal office in the primary.
“The Montana Republican Party (MTGOP) stands behind its deep bench of qualified candidates seeking to represent Montanans and supports a competitive primary process to let voters pick their preferred candidates,” the Montana GOP said in a news release Thursday.
Monday, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke announced he was retiring due to health concerns once his term ends, and he immediately tapped talk-show host Aaron Flint as his preferred successor in Congress.
Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Flathead County Republican Central Committee Chairperson Al Olszewski also filed for the U.S. House as Republicans, as did Ray Curtis of Bonner.
Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines withdrew, and in a statement the same night, announced an endorsement of former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, who had filed the same day.
In the Senate, Lee Calhoun and Charles Walking Child also filed to run in the Republican primary.
Endorsements for Flint and Alme cascaded. U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed both candidates, and U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and Gov. Greg Gianforte threw their weight behind Flint and Alme.
Late on Wednesday, the Montana GOP did not immediately have comment on the news Daines, Montana’s senior U.S. senator, had resigned, but Thursday, the party thanked Zinke and Daines for their service.
A news release said the party would not endorse any candidates in the federal primary and would leave the job in the hands of voters.
“The party hopes every candidate will make their case to the public, contrasting their Republican policies and principles with those of Democrats — as well as phony ‘Independents,’” the news release said.
Former University of Montana President Seth Bodnar announced a run for the U.S. Senate as an independent this week.
A tension within the Republican party has emerged in recent years between hardline conservatives and more moderate members, and some legislative primaries illustrate the split.
This week, the state GOP said the number of primaries for state legislative seats shows a high interest from Montanans who want to serve the state and pass Republican policy, and the MTGOP “is glad to see so many Republicans being called to public service.”
In a brief call, MTGOP spokesperson Ethan Holmes said the party had not ruled out endorsements in legislative primaries.
In the news release, however, the MTGOP offered its view of the larger political debate.
“Montana voters know that beyond the primaries, there is a clear choice between Republican and Democratic governance; one path leads to lower taxes, less crime and stronger families, and the other leads to higher taxes, more crime, and social decay,” MTGOP Chairperson Art Wittich said in a statement.
The news release also said the state GOP is working “tirelessly to deliver a Bright Red Future” at both the state and federal level and looks forward to help candidates whom voters select win in November.
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