FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2019

HELENA — Today, Senator Steve Daines voted to advance Interior Secretary nominee David Bernhardt in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This vote clears Bernhardt for a full Senate vote, despite his many conflicts of interest, connections to industries regulated by the Interior Department and his proposal to gut funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

Throughout his long career as a lobbyist for dozens of oil and gas companies, Bernhardt has worked to weaken regulations enforced by the Interior Department and most recently pushed for massive reductions in funding for long-standing, successful public lands programs, including LWCF.

“By voting to advance David Bernhardt, Senator Daines has let Montanans down,” said Whitney Tawney, Program Director for Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund. “LWCF funding is a priority for those of us in the Big Sky State and the Interior Secretary nominee put Montana’s public lands at risk by slashing the program’s funding.”

A January poll  commissioned by Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund found that 71% of Montanans believe it is unethical for former oil and gas lobbyists to be given positions in the Department of Interior.

Bernhardt’s nomination will now advance to a vote of the full Senate, where Senator Daines will have another opportunity to vote in the interest of Montanans and public lands.

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

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Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund (MCVEF) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to educate citizens and organizations in the basic techniques of effective civic engagement to further environmental and conservation goals. MCVEF programs educate the public about critical environmental and public lands issues; promote greater non-partisan citizen involvement in the democratic process; and provide strategic tools to conservation organizations to be more effective.