The Northern Plains Resource Council recently held its 53rd Annual Meeting in downtown Billings. One of the speakers at the event was Olivia Vesovich, 21, who was a plaintiff in the high-profile court case of Held v. Montana.
She, along with the Children's Trust senior staff attorney, Nate Bellinger, delivered the keynote speech on their experiences in the case. As a Montana native, Vesovich has a deep appreciation for the state.
"I love Missoula, I love Montana," Vesovich said. "Born and raised, I’ve lived on the same street my whole life."
Her passion for Montana and everything it has to offer sparked an interest in the subject of climate change.
"My generation's children's children are going to be the last generation to see the snow in the glaciers at Glacier National Park, and I was like, oh my God. Glaciers in Glacier National Park aren't going to exist, and so I knew that I had to do something, and I just, I fell into it because I knew that there was no other alternative," said Vesovich. "It was either fight for climate or regret it in the future."
It prompted her to become one of the 16 youth plaintiffs in the court cases of Held v. Montana. Represented by Bellinger, they sued the state in 2020 for "not protecting their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment."
“I got into this case when I was 16 years old, and I felt like my voice didn’t matter. And like, I wasn't being heard. And that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to speak out for those who don't have a voice," Vesovich said during her speech. "It was just really impactful and powerful to have us from all over Montana talking about how we can literally see climate change impacting us and clearly the courts listened."
"The state fought very, very hard to keep this case from going to trial. I think they filed 10 different motions to keep the case from going to trial," said Bellinger during his speech.
The District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
"It's a really unique and powerful decision because it's the first time a court has declared government laws promoting and encouraging fossil fuels to be unconstitutional," Bellinger said.
Both Bellinger and Vesovich said there's still work to be done.
"The next phase, the implementation and enforcement phase of held is at least as important as winning the case. And so we need to make sure that the state follows through with its constitutional obligations," said Bellinger. "And we will be here to make sure that they do that and are protecting Montanans' children."
After delivering oral arguments in July, they're now waiting to see how the Montana Supreme Court will rule on the state's appeal of the District Court's decision.
"When we have successes, it just means that we have to keep fighting and we have to keep trying for more successes, and we have to just keep working," Vesovich said. "And so I think the people in this audience were really receptive to that, and I know that, I hope that they feel more inspired to keep working and to keep getting their communities engaged."
