FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2019

HELENA — Even with the backdrop of David Bernhardt’s long history as an oil and gas lobbyist, his numerous conflicts of interest, and his proposal to slash funding for popular conservation programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), Senator Steve Daines has expressed his support for the Acting Interior Secretary’s nomination to fill the job permanently.

Bernhardt, a long-time oil lobbyist-turned-bureaucrat, has made it his mission to roll back protections for public lands and defund LWCF, our country’s most successful public lands conservation program.

“Senator Daines has repeatedly claimed to support LWCF but now is the time to stand up for the program. A vote to support David Bernhardt as Interior Secretary is an endorsement of the Administration’s plan to defund this critical public lands program.” said Whitney Tawney, Program Director for Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund. “Senator Daines’ willingness to support a nominee like Bernhardt speaks volumes, especially on the heels of the release of the Administration’s budget that recommends negative funding for LWCF.”

According to E&E News, when Senator Daines was asked whether he would urge the Administration to restore LWCF funding he “chuckled.” And when pressed by Montana reporters to comment on the Administration’s defunding of LWCF, Daines repeatedly declined to comment.

In addition to pushing for LWCF to be slashed, Bernhardt’s nomination has been repeatedly questioned due to his cozy ties with the industries he would regulate, after decades lobbying on their behalf. In fact, even industry has bragged about their influence with Bernhardt. A survey commissioned by the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund in January of 2019 found that an overwhelming majority of Montanans – 71% – believed it was unethical for former oil and gas lobbyists to be given positions in the Department of Interior.

“Montanans have spoken loud and clear: we don’t want oil lobbyists regulating our public lands,” Tawney said. “We hope Senator Daines will listen to his constituents and reject David Bernhardt as unfit to oversee America’s 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.