17 Groups Sue to Require Montana PSC to Consider Climate in Utility Decision Making

17 Groups Sue to Require Montana PSC to Consider Climate in Utility Decision Making

Groups seek to confirm commission's obligations to ensure a clean and healthful environment

Contacts

Amy Cilimburg, Climate Smart Missoula, [email protected]

Dara Deins, Forward Montana, [email protected]

Nick Fitzmaurice, MEIC, [email protected]

Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, [email protected]

Melissa Hornbein, Western Environmental Law Center, [email protected]

Today, 17 organizations-including healthcare providers, youth organizations, and clean energy and climate advocates-filed a lawsuit against the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) for rejecting a 2024 petition demanding that it recognize its constitutional duty to consider climate change in the regulation of Montana gas and electric utilities. Montana courts have found that the state has an obligation to consider climate change in decision making, but the PSC has failed to protect Montanans from the climate-related costs and risks of its utility decisions.

The groups petitioned the PSC to confirm its constitutional obligation to account for climate costs and risks in its decisions in February 2024, and the PSC held a public hearing in April 2024. After nearly two and a half years, the PSC resolved the petition on September 15, 2026, refusing to recognize its constitutional obligations. Meanwhile, the Commission has continued to make consequential decisions that have increased ratepayer exposure to climate-related costs and risks, including approving NorthWestern Energy's request to charge customers for the high construction and operation costs for the Yellowstone County Generating Station, a 175-megawatt methane gas plant in Laurel, Montana.

"Montana children are growing up with climate-related disasters that are no longer distant or abstract," said Patricia M. Notario, MD, FAAP, president of the Montana Chapter for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Wildfire smoke can make it difficult for a child with asthma to breathe, floods and severe weather can disrupt homes, schools and medical care, and the stress of these events can affect children's mental health long after the immediate danger has passed. As pediatricians, we have a responsibility to prepare our patients and communities for these threats and to advocate for a healthier environment for every Montana child."

"When the PSC fails to consider climate change in its decisions, Montanans bear the high costs and risks that come with fossil-fuel electricity, as well as the unaffordable and unconstitutional effects of a changing climate," said Amy Cilimburg, executive director of Climate Smart Missoula. "Our longer fire and smoke seasons, hotter temperatures, and drought - all of these impacts can credibly and proportionally be attributed to the burning of fossil fuels. The health of members of our community and our ability to afford electricity is directly connected to the electricity generation and rates as determined by the Commission."

"Young Montanans deserve a future where we can build our lives, raise families and continue to enjoy the places that make Montana home," said Alice Boyer, executive director with Forward Montana. "Climate change threatens that future and young people will live with the consequences of the decisions being made about our energy systems today, which have real impacts on the health and affordability of our communities. When the Public Service Commission ignores the Montana Constitution and fails to account for impacts to our environment, it jeopardizes the future young Montanans deserve and the communities we call home."

"Our kids fought for their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment in Held v. Montana, and have been advocating for climate justice long before and ever since," said Sarah Lundquist, executive director of Families for a Livable Climate. "Now it's our turn. The Public Service Commission has enormous influence over Montana's energy future, and we must ensure climate change is at the center of its decisions. It is our responsibility as adults to protect the future our kids deserve."

"Montana's landscapes, wildlife, rivers, and fisheries are all being affected by climate change. Hunters and anglers will suffer when the building blocks of our environment are altered," said Gayle Joslin, board member of Helena Hunters and Anglers Association. "Functional ecosystems are not only important for fish and wildlife, but they also provide ecosystem services to Montana's people in the form of clean water, clear air, and vibrant outdoor spaces. The Montana Public Service Commission has a constitutional duty to seek remedies that protect and improve our environment."

"The Public Service Commission has more influence over Montana's greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis than any other state agency," said Nick Fitzmaurice, energy transition engineer for Montana Environmental Information Center. "Our Constitution is clear, and the Held v. State of Montana Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed that the state and each person must maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment, which includes a right to a stable climate. It is long overdue for the Commission to protect utility customers and their wallets by taking climate impacts into consideration in its regulation of gas and electric utilities."

"With each passing year, the effects of greenhouse gas pollution on Montana and the region become more severe," said Derek Goldman, Montana policy and regulatory associate with the NW Energy Coalition. "It's time for the Commission to honor its legal obligation and nudge Montana's utilities towards cleaner, cheaper renewable energy resources."

Earthjustice and Western Environmental Law Center represent Climate Smart Missoula, Citizens for Clean Energy, Earthworks, Families for a Livable Climate, Forward Montana, Helena Hunters and Anglers, Helena Interfaith Climate Advocates, Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Montana Environmental Information Center, Montana Health and Climate, Montana Public Interest Research Group, Montana Renewable Energy Association, NW Energy Coalition, Park County Environmental Council, Renewable Northwest, Sierra Club Montana Chapter, and 350 Montana in the lawsuit.

Background:

The PSC is an elected body charged with ensuring that utility customers have continued access to utility services that are affordable, reliable, and in the public interest. Five commissioners represent PSC districts across the state. With broad oversight authority over Montana's monopoly utilities, the PSC makes decisions that can either promote or discourage continued utility investment in expensive fossil-fuel infrastructure. For example, in December 2025, the PSC approved NorthWestern's request to increase customers' electricity bills, in part to pay for the Yellowstone County Generating Station.

In the historic youth constitutional climate trial, Held v. State of Montana, the court declared that, under Article II, Section 3 of the Montana Constitution, Montanans "have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life-support system." (Held Order, p. 102, ¶ 7). The court also confirmed that Article IX, Section 1 of the Montana Constitution places "an affirmative duty upon the government to take active steps to realize this right." (Held Order, p. 96, ¶ 45) Critically, the court determined that "Montana's climate, environment, and natural resources are unconstitutionally degraded and depleted due to the current atmospheric concentration of GHGs and climate change." (Held Order, p. 98, ¶ 50). The district court's decision was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court in December 2024.

While the Montana PSC has not recognized its obligation to consider climate-related costs and risks in its decisionmaking, utility commissions in other states regularly do so.

Additional Resources

• About the Northern Rockies Office

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.