FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 24, 2019

MCV: ‘Montanans are getting the short end of the stick’

Senate appropriations bill yields only $465 million for LWCF

(HELENA, Mont.)  – Montana Conservation Voters today released the following statement from Deputy Director Whitney Tawney after the release of the Senate Interior Appropriations bill that included $465 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund for Fiscal Year 2020:

“We sounded the alarm that Senator Daines asking for less funding would result in less funding. Unfortunately, as we suspected, Montanans are getting the short end of the stick with only half of the authorized amount for our public lands.”

First established by Congress in 1965, LWCF has been funded by offshore oil and gas royalties rather than taxpayer dollars, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to protect public lands and increase access to outdoor recreation. LWCF has invested nearly $600 million in the Big Sky State. The fund supports Montana’s outdoor recreation economy, which sustains 71,000 Montana jobs and generates more than $7 billion in economic activity in Montana every year.

Earlier this year, Senator Daines asked his colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee for $600 million—only two-thirds of full funding – despite his claim a month earlier that he supported full funding.

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Montana Conservation Voters is a statewide non-partisan membership organization that is dedicated to fighting for Montana’s clean water and air, open spaces, wildlife and public health. MCV provides voter participation services to over 72,000 Montanans. Visit mtvoters.org for more details.

CONTACT

Whitney Tawney
Montana Conservation Voters
whitney@mtvoters.org
406-254-1593