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Fifteen-year-old Natalie Roberts of Salt Lake City is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed this week against the state of Utah because of its policies related to fossil fuel development. She is joined by six other young Utahns who argue the state's actions are hurting their rights to life, health, and safety.
“I've lived in Utah my entire life, and it's been very easy to see that we are in a crisis at this point in time,” Roberts said. “If we don't change our behavior, if we don't get the government to change their behaviors, it's not going to end well. Like we can see the effects that are happening now, we’re all experiencing them.” She said she and others her age are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change caused by Utah's continued exploration, extraction, and exploitation of fossil fuels that are exacerbating problems with air quality, drought, and extreme heat.
Andrew Welle, a senior staff attorney with Our Children’s Trust, which works with kids and teens in these cases, is asking the court to declare some of Utah’s laws unconstitutional. According to the Trust, “It's not that the state is not doing enough to address air quality and climate change issues—they're actively making them worse. They've enacted policies in Utah statutory code that make that clear, that their aim is to maximize fossil fuel extraction, knowing of the dangers to it.” The suit names Governor Spencer Cox, the Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Energy Development and the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.
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It's a fundamental part of our energy transition in this country to make sure that we don't leave these orphan wells behind."
