by Nick Fitzmaurice
For the past two years, MEIC has been working with a coalition of over 40 organizations and businesses across Montana in a joint effort formally petitioning the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) to consider climate impacts in its regulation of gas and electric utilities. This initiative was launched on the heels of the historic Held v. State of Montana district court ruling, later upheld by the Montana Supreme Court, affirming that Montanans’ Constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment includes the right to a stable climate system. The effort included both a petition for the agency to create rules dictating how it would consider climate impacts in its regulatory decision-making, as well as a request for a declaratory ruling on the PSC’s interpretation of its statutory and constitutional obligations to consider climate impacts in its decisions.
Petitioners filed the request for rulemaking and declaratory ruling in February 2024, and the PSC held a public hearing on the matter in April 2024. The requests then languished in front of the PSC for more than a year. This September, having sat on the petition for 18 months, the PSC voted unanimously to deny our request for a declaratory ruling. Commissioners argued that it was outside of their authority to make such a declaratory ruling, sidestepping their responsibility under Montana’s Constitution to consider climate change impacts in their regulation of Montana gas and electric utilities. A decision on Petitioners’ request for rulemaking is still pending before the PSC.
Petitioners filed a request for reconsideration with the PSC on September 12, and on October 1, the PSC waived its 20-day deadline for making a decision on this request. This left an ambiguous timeframe for the PSC to rule on our appeal, and as of going to print, Petitioners still await a final decision from the Commission. If the PSC denies the appeal, petitioners will have 30 days to file a challenge in state district court.
Montana’s Constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment — including a stable climate system — is clear, and MEIC will continue working to ensure that the PSC upholds its obligation to consider climate change in its regulation of Montana utilities.
This article was published in the December 2025 issue of Down To Earth.
