A Montana judge ruled in favor of youth plaintiffs who sued the state's government for violating their constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment Monday.

Montana's First Judicial District Court Judge Kathy Seeley also declared that provisions of the Montana Environmental Policy Act were unconstitutional; these guidelines forbid the state and its agents from considering the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions or climate change in their environmental reviews and have served as the basis for Montana's fossil-fuel dependency,