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A great and timely honor for two Montana judges – Daily Montanan [1]

['More From Author', 'December', 'George Ochenski']

Date: 2023-12-15  

From time to time those who take brave stands for the future are recognized and rewarded for their courage, wisdom, and ultimately, the decisions they make or influence — and that just happened for two Montana judges.

Helena District Court Judge Kathy Seeley and the late Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice and U.S. Sen. Paul Hatfield were among 60 judges from across the globe to be honored by the National Judicial College on it’s 6oth anniversary because they “demonstrated courage in upholding the rule of law and providing justice for all.”

It would take vastly more room than a column to cover the life and accomplishments of Paul Hatfield as he distinguished himself in combat on the battlefield of Korea, on the bench at both the District and Supreme Court of Montana and as a Senator.

But for this column, one of his significant decisions — and one he shares with his co-honoree Judge Seeley, was his strong advocacy for the environment. Having been born and raised in Great Falls, Hatfield knew the historical and geological significance of the Rocky Mountain Front. And when the oil and gas industry decided to drill there, it was Hatfield’s ruling that required the Forest Service to conduct full-fledged Environmental Impact Statements before the federal government could sell oil and gas leases on the Front.

It’s the connection and commitment to the environment that ties him to the historic and internationally-lauded ruling issued by Judge Seeley some four decades later in the Held v. State of Montana case earlier this year.

The lawsuit, which was the first climate-related constitutional lawsuit to go to trial in the United States, was brought by Our Children’s Trust on behalf of 14 young Montanans ranging from 2 to 14 years old when the case was filed in 2020.

At stake was nothing less than Montana’s constitutional provision that: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” It was called “the jewel of the Montana Constitution” by late Constitutional Convention delegate Bob Campbell, who authored it.

The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of two laws which prohibited the state from considering climate impacts in energy permitting decisions. As noted by the New York Times, the ruling came during “a summer of record heat” — and indeed, 2023 has again set new records for the hottest year in human history.

That the State of Montana — and the Gianforte administration — are appealing the ruling is nothing short of stealing the future from those young people and millions more like them around the globe.

Simply put, there are a lot of things you can do without — but the environment is not one of them — and what’s been broken is often impossible to fix. No need to look further than the on-going debacle in Butte, Anaconda, and the Upper Clark Fork — the largest Superfund site in the nation — for blunt evidence of that.

Make no mistake, the powerful interests of the extractive industries will always fight back till the last glacier is gone, the seas boiling, and life as we know it is but a memory. And it’s exactly why this great honor to Montana’s two brave judges — and their defense of the environment — is so timely.

George Ochenski is a longtime Helena resident, an environmental activist and Montana’s longest-running columnist.

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