State seeks input on greenhouse gas rules after Held climate ruling

In a series of “listening sessions” in three Montana cities, state regulators are asking for public input on a proposal to guide how agencies comply with a court order from a landmark climate case.

In Held v. Montana, a district court ruled that the state’s permitting agencies need to consider the effects of proposals to emit greenhouse gases on climate change, and the subsequent impacts to the state. State policy banning analysis of those emissions and climate-change impacts violated Montanans’ right to a “clean and healthful environment” under the state constitution, the court ruled.

That 2023 decision was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court last year, and legislation passed earlier this year is attempting to bring the state agencies into compliance. The Held case was separate from a federal climate-change lawsuit dismissed by a judge earlier this month.

Carbon dioxide is globally the biggest contributor to human-caused climate change. But other heat-trapping gases that will be analyzed include methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases.

Senate Bill 221 requires the Department of Environmental Quality to issue guidance to state agencies, so they can determine if an action requires them to analyze greenhouse gas emissions. The bill won bipartisan support in the Legislature, although some Democrats argued it fell short of the courts’ mandate.

At issue was its use of the word “proximate” to limit the analysis to emissions directly resulting from an agency action. Critics said that would fail to capture the true extent of the projected impacts.

The DEQ this month released a draft of that guidance and opened a comment period that ends Oct. 30, and is hosting meetings gather input in Billings, Missoula and Helena next week (see info box).

The DEQ’s proposed guidance language can be found online at deq.mt.gov/News/publiccomment-folder/ghg-guidance-10-01-25.

Sam Wilson is the outdoors and environment reporter at the Missoulian.