Issue Position: On the Environment, Natural Resources and Energy

Issue Position

I fully support the constitutional right of Montanans to a clean and healthful environment.

Therefore, I believe energy policy should be governed by these three tenets:

1. Focus on sustainable economies.

Sustainability, paired with responsibility, can ensure that our bountiful natural resources are as abundant for our children and grandchildren as they are for us.

Towards that end, energy development needs to be a sustainable endeavor--both in the type of energy developed and the methods used to develop them. Government should never lose sight of how our decisions will impact the generations to come or the natural environments which they effect.

Our economy is inextricably tied to our natural environment; if one ails, the other will suffer as well.

2. Preservation of public lands--and public access to them.

Lands held in public trust are vital to the character and health of our state and our people. It is important to protect them and to protect the right to access them.

3. Recognition of the inherent value of natural, intact ecosystems.

Although the natural world provides for many human needs--including sustenance, recreation and beauty, among others--it has value separate and apart from what it can contribute to human endeavor.

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