FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2019

BILLINGS – Today in partnership with the League of Conservation Voters, Montana Conservation Voters released the Montana delegation’s scores on the League of Conservation Voters’ 2018 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard is an important tool for evaluating the environmental records of every member of Congress and is available online here: http://scorecard.lcv.org/

The 2018 Scorecard measures votes cast during the second session of the 115th Congress. In Montana, Senator Jon Tester scored 93% while Senator Steve Daines scored a mere 14% and Representative Greg Gianforte earned a dismal 3%.

“It’s no surprise Senator Tester earned the highest score for environmental protection as our steady and ardent champion of conservation in Montana,” said Rick Potts, Interim Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “We need Senator Daines and Representative Gianforte to fight for Montanans like Senator Tester fights for our natural resources and communities. Now, more than ever, we’re determined to hold members of Congress accountable for putting anti-environment special interests ahead of our families.”

The 2018 Scorecard includes 35 House votes that span the chamber’s assaults on clean air and water, lands and wildlife protections, investments in clean energy and so much more. In the Senate, the majority of the 14 votes scored are confirmation votes on Trump’s anti-environmental nominees.

“After eight years of the most anti-environmental U.S. House ever and two years of relentless attacks on the environment from the Trump administration, the tectonic shift to a pro-environment majority in the people’s House comes not a moment too soon. We could not be more excited to work with the new pro-environment House majority to protect our air, water, lands, and wildlife, combat the climate crisis, and hold the Trump administration accountable,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld.

LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from about 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including energy, climate change, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in the Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. More information on individual votes and the Scorecard archive can be found at scorecard.lcv.org

CONTACT
Whitney Tawney
Montana Conservation Voters
Email: whitney@mtvoters.org
Phone: (406) 254-1593

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