FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2020

MCV to Daines: ‘Montanans Can’t Afford to Wait, Senator’

Organization urges support for collaborative outdoors legislation, not a ‘wishlist from the timber industry’

(BILLINGS, Mont.) —  Montana Conservation Voters released the following statements from Executive Director Aaron Murphy in response to today’s U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on two bills from Montana’s senators: Steve Daines’s controversial Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act (S.4431), and Jon Tester’s popular Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (S.1765):

EMERGENCY WILDFIRE AND PUBLIC SAFETY ACT:

“This legislation, like so many other bills put forward by Senator Daines, isn’t a result of on-the-ground collaboration among folks whose lives and businesses are impacted by wildfire. It’s a wishlist from the timber industry–and it’s no surprise Senator Daines didn’t listen to anyone else. We encourage all Montanans and all elected leaders to look toward more responsible solutions that are locally driven and that truly address climate change.”

BLACKFOOT CLEARWATER STEWARDSHIP ACT:

“Senator Daines says he looks forward to the ‘continuation of public debate’ over the popular Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. Really? This bill has earned overwhelming bipartisan support because it’s been a project among Montanans since before Senator Daines was even in office. Instead of working with and listening to Montanans, Senator Daines has been looking for excuses. Jobs are at stake and Montanans can’t afford to wait, Senator.”

BACKGROUND:

The Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act, according to Daines, would require the U.S. Forest Service “to conduct three landscape-level, collaborative wildfire risk reduction projects in the West proposed by a Governor. Projects would be subject to a streamlined environmental review process and certain litigation protections.”

The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act would protect 79,060 acres of wildlife habitat in the Bob Marshall, Mission Mountains, and Scapegoat Wilderness Area. The legislation also opens 2,013 acres of currently closed land to snowmobiling, and protects an additional 3,835 acres for mountain biking and hiking. Tester introduced the legislation at the request of local Montanans ranging from outdoor recreationalists to the timber industry. Daines, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has yet to support the bill.

###