Conservation Awards!
2009 Conservation Champion Award
Presented to Bob Raney on March 13, 2009 Helena, Montana
The Montana Conservation Voters Conservation Champion award honors an elected or appointed official who has taken courageous positions and actions that have led to demonstrated improvements for Montana's environment.
We honor tonight a member who has worked in his community, in his workplace, in the legislature, on the Public Service Commission and with Montana's conservation and environmental community to defend our state's constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
Bob Raney is MCV's 2009 Conservation Champion award recipient. A lifelong Livingston resident, Bob was a railroad trainman for 25 years, a member of the United Transportation Union and local president, and a Vietnam War Veteran.
"Landslide Bob", as he is fondly called by loyal friends and supporters, was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 1985 where he served until 2000. As a legislator, Bob served on the Taxation Committee, the Natural Resource Committee, which he chaired from 1989 - 1992, (those were the golden years), and the Fish and Game Committee.
Bob met his wife, Jeanne-Marie Souvigney, in the legislature. She was lobbying him at the time, and their partnership is one the more impressive outcomes of the Montana legislature in the last 25 years.
Bob's accomplishments for conservation and the environment start in his hometown, where he successfully pushed for Super Fund clean up of Burlington Northern's hazardous waste site.
He was instrumental in developing modern waste management policy for Montana, bringing to bear his understanding of how to work with diverse people, and for holding corporations accountable for their pollution. Bob served on the Environmental Quality Council (EQC), and sponsored the successful Future Fisheries Program, a partnership between private landowners and anglers to improve fish habitat.
He has been a stalwart defender of the public's right to access public land for hunting, fishing and family recreation, and is well known for his advocacy of state parks and preserving primitive parks. He was instrumental in eliminating fees for Montana state park users. His experience was put to work in 2004, when he testified before Congress to stop attempts to charge fees on millions of acres of public land.
Bob was also a founding member of Montanans for the Coal Trust. He had the distinguished honor of being the "keeper of the black book".
That's a list of legislators who could be counted on to stop the legislature's bi-annual attempt to bust the trust. He handed the black book over to Sen. Ron Erickson, the first recipient of MCV's Conservation Champion award.
Bob teamed up with others to stand against the failed, disastrous utility deregulation law in the legislature. So it wasn't a big surprise that he ran for the Public Service Commission, after he was term limited, and he was elected to the PSC in 2004.
As a Montana Public Service Commissioner, Bob was a champion for consumers, and a voice for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and corporate responsibility in the wake of deregulation. His colleagues credit him with being a driving force for innovations in conservation technology such as "smart meters." He served on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC) Environment and Energy Committee and became one of Montana's foremost experts on carbon sequestration, coal to liquids and coal to natural gas technologies, and strategies to move forward to a new energy economy.
He put this to use as a member of the Governor's Climate Change Advisory Council, where he helped shape a plan for reducing Montana's carbon foot print - a plan that offers incredible opportunity if it were advanced.
Bob Raney used the Public Service Commission platform to speak truth to power by debunking the Highwood Generating station's claims. He has provided information and clarity to SME's victim's, including rural electric coop members in Beartooth Electric, his constituency. Many misinformed legislators should listen up.
Courage under fire is one of the attributes of the MCV Conservation Champ. Bob Raney has met this test time and again, exposing the fallacies of deregulation in the 90s' and the hoax of clean coal today. He may be retired from public office today, but we know we can count on him to be a voice for our parks, our communities, our fishing heritage, and corporate responsibility.
In Bob's honor, MCV gifted Montanans for the Coal Trust.
2008 MCV AWARDS
MCV's 9th Annual Meeting in Helena on Mar. 7th featured our second year of award recipients. Winners recieved Renewable Energy Credits from NativeEnergy.com (enough to offset more than 6 tons of CO2!) that go to support wind power development, and farm methane energy projects 
This year's recipient, Dr. Steve Running, has devoted his entire, remarkable career to monitoring and assessing the state of the earth and earth systems. As a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 2007 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he has reviewed the enormous and accumulating body of scientific evidence on climate change, and has worked tirelessly to make that evidence understood by policy makers and the public all across the world.
The MCV Distinguished Service Award is given to a member(s) who has worked actively over the years to help Montana Conservation Voters achieve its goals by helping to elect candidates, hold elected officials accountable, organize, fundraise, and advance environmental protection through political action.
This year's award goes to Bob and Beth Jaffe of MCV's Missoula Chapter. As MCV members since 2005, this energetic couple has done an enormous amount in a short amount of time. MCV endorsed Bob Jaffe in his successful bid for Missoula's City Council in 2005. They have helped set up our phonebank-in-a-box for MCV's grassroots lobbying outreach effort during the 2007 legislature and also housed it in his office for four months. Bob has also done pro-bono computer service throughout his involvement with MCV. And they've been benefactors for MCV by donating a one year Web Hosting Service package for our 2008 Annual Meeting Silent Auction. Most recently, Beth has joined the local Missoula County Chapter Board and has helped out significantly as a Vice Chair. In addition to all of this, the couple has opened their house for all Missoula Chapter meetings.
Congratulation Bob and Beth!
The MCV Conservation Champion Award is given to an elected or appointed public official who has taken courageous positions and actions that have led to demonstrated improvements for Montana’s environment - clean air and water, fish and wildlife, forests, open space and public health.
This year's recipient, Dr. Steve Running, has devoted his entire, remarkable career to monitoring and assessing the state of the earth and earth systems. As a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 2007 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he has reviewed the enormous and accumulating body of scientific evidence on climate change, and has worked tirelessly to make that evidence understood by policy makers and the public all across the world. There are simply very few people in the world who have done more to warn us about the threat of global warming or to make the case that we must act now if warming is to be arrested. And there may be nobody in the world who delivers that message more often, more fervently or with greater grace, wit and clarity that Steve does, not just to senators, conferences and comissions, but to all Montanans in all walks of life.
2007 MCV AWARDS
This year for the first time, as a part of our 8th Annual Meeting, Montana Conservation Voters gave out two awards to honor individuals who are doing outstanding work to protect the environment and further MCV’s political aims.
- The “MCV Distinguished Service Award” went to Julia Page, a former MCV board member who has worked actively over the years to help Montana Conservation Voters achieve its goals by helping to elect candidates, hold elected officials accountable, organize, fundraise, and advance environmental protection through political action.
- The “MCV Conservation Champion Award” went to Ron Erickson, a former legislator who has taken courageous positions and actions that have led to demonstrated improvements for Montana’s environment - clean air and water, fish and wildlife, forests, open space and public health.
The MCV Board of Directors selected the award winners from nominees recommended by members and the Awards Committee, Dick Barrett , Brad Webb, Aaron Browning and John Tubbs.
Both were presented with lovely framed photographs from MCV-member and award-winning photographer Tom Murphy of Livingston.
