By Ellis Juhlin and Austin Amestoy, Montana Public Radio
Ellis Juhlin Directly related to our listeners question, Anne Hedges with the Montana Environmental Information Center testified in the trial, alleging that state regulators have never denied permitting for a fossil fuel project on the grounds of environmental impacts like emissions.
Anne Hedges I mean, a majority of Montanans believe in climate change, but you wouldn’t know it by your elected officials who are the ones who are making the decisions.
Ellis Juhlin She also told me about how the state has taken steps toward climate action in the past. Under two previous Democratic governors, Montana residents created climate solutions plans and state agencies even teamed up with scientists to create an assessment that breaks down the impacts of climate change in Montana. A couple of years ago, in 2021. All of that work has essentially been shelved at this point. It’s not been used for policy change or action since any of those plans were created.
