LCV Names Sen. Roy Brown to the Inaugural State-Level Dirty Dozen

Brown One of Twelve Dirtiest Candidates for State Office Targeted for Defeat

Billings - Today, the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, announced the inaugural state-level Dirty Dozen program. State Sen. Roy Brown (R-Billings) is one of 12 candidates for state office from around the country named to the list for his consistent votes against clean energy production and conservation initiatives. Montana Conservation Voters will work to defeat Roy Brown during the remaining months of the election cycle.

"Roy Brown has consistently put Big Oil and other corporate polluters ahead of the Montana’s land, air and water. He is stuck in the mire of the old-school, dirty energy sources of the past, and as a result, he consistently votes against developing new clean energy jobs in Montana,” said Theresa Keaveny, Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters. "Being named to the Dirty Dozen should put Sen. Brown on notice - voters in Montana won't stand for a legislator who fails to fight for new clean energy jobs and a cleaner, healthier future."

Brown was named to the LCV state Dirty Dozen list because he consistently votes with Big Oil interests and corporate polluters and against clean energy legislation.

• Sen. Brown has obstructed Montana's new renewable energy industry and the $1billion invested in our state’s clean, green economy. He voted against the state’s Renewable Energy Standard, sponsored in 2005 by then State Senator Jon Tester and championed by Gov. Schweitzer. The Act spurred a new era of clean energy jobs and renewable power production by requiring utilities to acquire 15% of their energy from renewable resources like wind by 2015.
• Sen. Brown voted to strip Montana’s landmark public participation and environmental protection law in every session in his ten-year career. In 2001 alone, he voted three times to strip the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). MEPA, modeled after the National Environmental Policy Act, is the state’s “look before you leap” measure that involves the public in decisions that affect clean air and water, wildlife and public health.
• Sen. Brown voted to give oil and gas operations a tax holiday (SB 530, 1999), giving Big Oil a multi-year, multi-million dollar handout, and reducing revenue to state schools, roads and firefighters by hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Sen. Brown’s lifetime voting record is a dismal 13 percent on Montana Conservation Voters’ scorecard, a measure of how often legislators support basic protections of land, air and water for all Montanans.

The full list of state-level Dirty Dozen candidates can be found at http://www.lcv.org/statedirtydozen.

"From Congress to the state house there has never been a more urgent time to defeat politicians who stand with Big Oil and block progress on clean energy reform," said LCV President Gene Karpinski. "With the U.S. Senate's recent failure to act on comprehensive energy and climate legislation, we need strong conservation leaders at the state level to move the ball forward on new energy policies that will put America on the path to a clean energy future."

LCV's trademark Dirty Dozen program targets candidates for Congress - regardless of party affiliation - who consistently vote against clean energy and conservation and are running in races in which LCV has a serious chance to affect the outcome. Since 1996, more than 60 percent of the federal candidates named to Dirty Dozen have been defeated. Today's announcement marks the first time LCV has named a state-level Dirty Dozen consisting of gubernatorial and state legislative candidates.

For a list of federal candidates named to the 2010 Dirty Dozen, visit http://www.lcv.org/dirtydozen.

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Paid for by Montana Conservation Voters Political Action Committee, Box 63, Billings, MT 59103, Dave Tyler, Treasurer