Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission

Date of Application:	Fri, 22 Aug 2025
Law Applied:	Public Trust Doctrine Public Trust Doctrine
Keywords:	Declaratory relief, Legislation, Permitting

Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission Case 2025CV002797

Summary:

On August 22, 2025, Our Children’s Trust, in partnership with Midwest Environmental Advocates, filed Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission on behalf of 15 children —ages 8 to 17— from across Wisconsin to protect their rights to life and liberty under Article 1, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution — rights that inherently include health, safety, bodily integrity, and a stable climate. The young plaintiffs argue that Wisconsin laws prohibiting the Public Service Commission (PSC) from considering air pollution in its permitting decisions for fossil fuel infrastructure, while simultaneously blocking the development of new renewable energy sources, exacerbate the climate crisis, harm young people, and violate their fundamental rights. The plaintiffs also assert that the Wisconsin Legislature and PSC have a constitutional duty under Article IX, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution to protect and conserve the state’s waters for the benefit of current and future generations. Defendants include the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and the Wisconsin Legislature.

Why Children Are Suing:

Wisconsin has enacted laws like Wis. Stat. §§ 196.491(3)(d)3. and 4, Wis. Stat. § 196.378(4m)(a) and Wis. Stat. § 196.025(1)(c)1. that:

- Prohibit the PSC from considering air pollution or climate impacts when reviewing fossil fuel project applications, effectively forcing approval of polluting infrastructure regardless of harm.

- Cap the renewable energy requirements utilities must meet, limiting the state’s clean energy transition.

These statutes endanger the health, safety, and lives of children in the state, entrench fossil fuel reliance, and obstruct Wisconsin’s own goal of fully decarbonizing its electricity sector by 2050. Over 75% of Wisconsin’s electricity still comes from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, and the state’s per capita carbon emissions exceed the national average. As a result, climate change impacts are accelerating across Wisconsin—bringing more frequent flooding, intensifying heatwaves, and worsening environmental degradation—all of which directly threaten the plaintiffs’ health and safety.

Wisconsin’s Waters Are at Risk

Under the Public Trust Doctrine, Wisconsin’s waters—including its lakes, rivers, wetlands, and shorelines—must be protected for public use and preserved for future generations. But climate change is threatening these rights. Warmer lakes, toxic algal blooms, and increased polluted runoff are making fishing, boating, and swimming more hazardous. Shorter winters and unreliable ice are diminishing opportunities for ice fishing and skating. Meanwhile, extreme weather is eroding shorelines, causing flooding, and altering the natural beauty of the landscape—undermining the very purposes these waters are meant to serve.

Children are Disproportionately Harmed by Climate Change

The climate crisis severely threatens the health, well-being, and future of children. Physically, children are more vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution, extreme heat, and reduced access to clean water. Mentally, they are increasingly burdened by anxiety, grief, and trauma as they witness the degradation of ecosystems and the loss of places they love. The crisis also jeopardizes their future opportunities, diminishing access to natural resources, reliable food systems, and safe housing. When state laws and energy policies continue to promote climate pollution, they lock in these harms—forcing this generation and the next to live with the consequences.

The youth plaintiffs who filed Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission are already experiencing many of these harms firsthand. They face heightened exposure to fossil fuel–driven air pollution, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular issues, environmental degradation, which is reducing their access to clean, usable water, and extreme climate-driven floods, heatwaves, wildfires, and weather events, endangering their physical safety and mental health. For Indigenous youth plaintiffs, the crisis is also threatening their ability to practice tribal lifeways, including harvesting traditional Anishinaabe foods like fish, wild rice, and maple sugar. Looking ahead, these children face a future with a destabilized climate, putting biodiversity, livelihoods, and overall quality of life at risk.

The youth plaintiffs are asking the court to:

Declare that the laws prohibiting the PSC from considering air pollution when reviewing permits for fossil fuel power plants and imposing a cap on renewable energy requirements violate plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life and liberty; right to a stable climate system; and right to use and enjoy navigable waters.

Previous Action in Wisconsin

Our Children's Trust helped Wisconsin youth and partners take important action toward achieving scientifically adequate emission reductions in the state. On May 4, 2011, a petition for rulemaking was filed with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, raising awareness in the state about the scientific remedies necessary to address climate change and educating state officials about their duty to protect the atmosphere. However, the petition was not accepted by state officials.

Current Status:

On August 22, 2025, 15 youth plaintiffs filed their lawsuit against the Wisconsin Legislature and Public Service Commission. The youth now await a response from the defendants.

The youth plaintiffs are asking the court to:

Declare that the laws prohibiting the PSC from considering air pollution when reviewing permits for fossil fuel power plants and imposing a cap on renewable energy requirements violate plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life and liberty; right to a stable climate system; and right to use and enjoy navigable waters.

Summary courtesy of Our Children's Trust

Related CRC articles

• 6. Right to life, survival and development (CRC Article 6)
• 24. Right to health, healthcare, and a healthy environment (CRC Article 24)
• 30. Right to minority culture, language, religion (CRC Article 30)

Complaint:

5. Specifically, the laws that prohibit the Commission from considering air pollution when deciding whether to approve or deny applications for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (“CPCN”) for the construction of electric generation facilities (Wis. Stat. §196.491(3)(d)3. and 4.) violate Plaintiffs’ Article I § 1 constitutional rights to liberty (including their rights to health, safety, and bodily integrity) (Count I); to life (Count II); to a stable climate system (Count III); to access, enjoy, and use navigable waters and their beds (Count IV); and Plaintiffs’ Article IX § 1 constitutional right to public trust resources free from substantial impairment (Count V). Plaintiffs allege that the prohibition on the consideration of air pollution in Wis. Stat. § 196.491(3)(d)3. and 4.4 is unconstitutional as applied to the Commission’s review of CPCNs for fossil fuel-powered electric generation facilities (i.e., fossil fuel-fired power plants) and should be enjoined from implementation during the Commission’s review of CPCNs for such facilities.

23. Access to traditional foods of the Anishinaabeg diet, including wild rice, fish, and maple sugar, is essential to Tyler, Waazakone, Mukademigwan, and Gookoonz’s connection to their tribes, cultural heritage and traditions, and to their health and happiness.

31. Defendants’ conduct harms the mental health of Tyler, Waazakone, Mukademigwan, and Gookoonz because they know their ability to access traditional food sources and participate in culturally-important ceremonies will be further limited as climate change worsens, such that they could be unable to carry on traditional ways of life in the future. The prospect of such losses is devastating.

Involvement of children in hearings

• Written presentation

The personal circumstances of the youth are recounted by their lawyer in the court papers.

Future generations

Complaint:

40. Madeleine experiences climate anxiety and fears for her own health and safety, and that of her community and future generations. She has missed school due to her mental health injuries and cannot participate in school sports.

264. The public trust doctrine requires sovereign governments, including Defendants, to protect, preserve, and prevent substantial impairment to, and waste of, public trust resources for the benefit of present and future generations of Wisconsinites, including youth Plaintiffs.

270. The rights and uses of public trust resources have evolved over time and been interpreted expansively to protect and preserve a wide range of commercial and recreational uses of waters, including the right of present and future generations to access, enjoy, and use public trust resources for navigation, fishing, hunting, commerce, boating, bathing, skating, scenic beauty, and other public purposes.

Prayer for relief:

k. Pursuant to Article IX § 1 Defendants have affirmative public trust obligations to protect and conserve Wisconsin’s public trust resources for the benefit of present and future generations of Wisconsinites.

Outcome of decision for the applicants

• Decision pending

Involvement of NGO/law firm in application

Available information on how children got involved in the litigation

Wisconsin — Our Children's Trust

Age range of litigants

• 8-12
• 13-17

Number of children or youth involved

15