New West Missoula: Who’s Green? Baucus, Tester Get Top Eco Scores
Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester were given top marks and named “environmental champions” for their voting records on legislation involving major environmental issues, according to an annual Congressional Scorecard released today by Environment Montana.
Environment Montana is part of a federation of nonprofit environmental advocacy groups in 27 states and the District of Columbia, which together form an organization called Environment America (EA).
Baucus and Tester, both Democrats, won EA’s highest possible score–100 percent–for voting green on all major environmental bills tracked by the group from May 2007 through September 2009.
Great Falls Tribune: Baucus, Tester nominate students for military academies
Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester on Monday each announced 25 high school students nominated to U.S. military academies.
Nominees are chosen for academic achievement, leadership, community service and participation, and all applicants to the academies must be nominated by a member of Congress to be considered.
“Montanans are rightfully proud of our young men and women who dedicate their futures to public service in the military,” said Tester.
Great Falls Tribune: Baucus, Tester tout benefits of Senate bill
WASHINGTON — Montana’s Democratic U.S. senators defended the sweeping health care bill as needed medicine, even as Republicans made one last push to keep it from passing.
“The folks in the Senate have worked very, very hard to get a bill that addresses the health care issues in this country,” Sen. Jon Tester said Tuesday. “Overall, it’s a positive for a state like Montana, where we have so many folks who can’t afford to have insurance. … The system is broken, and it needs to be fixed.”
Missoulian: Tester says Smurfit-bound wood could become energy source for state
Wood that would have gone to Frenchtown’s Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. pulp mill might instead become a new energy resource for Montana, according to U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.
Shortly after he testified about his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act before the Senate Public Lands and Forests subcommittee on Thursday, Tester said his proposed legislation could be adapted to find new uses for nonsawmill timber.
Great Falls Tribune: Tester seeks administration's support for Montana forest bill
[Senator] Tester has spent months reaching out to the timber industry, environmental groups, recreation interests and government representatives on a bill supporters say forges a rare compromise among usually adversarial groups. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., would preserve 677,000 acres of land as wilderness. It also would open up about 100,000 acres — out of more than 2 million acres — for timber activity in Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the Three Rivers District of Kootenai National Forest and the Seeley Lake District of Lolo National Forest.
Additionally, the measure would make sure thousands of acres now used for recreation, such as ATVs and snowmobiles, remain that way. And it would enhance efforts to reduce forest fires that feed on overgrowth and make it easier to eradicate the pine beetle infestation that’s claimed large swaths of forest.
Montana's News Station: MT healthcare reform supporters thank Baucus, Tester
Democrats continue to push to pass healthcare reform before the holiday break, while Republicans accuse their counterparts of rushing the bill.
In the midst of the debate, some Montanans in support of reform took time to say “thank you” to Montana’s U.S. senators.
The groups paid visits to the Great Falls offices of Senator Jon Tester and Senator Max Baucus, sharing their personal experiences and challenges with current health care.
New York Times: Gold Discovery Stirs Fear About Effects to Glacier NP's Headwaters
A Canadian mining company’s discovery last week of high-grade gold deposits north of Glacier National Park has raised alarm among environmentalists that development of the deposits could imperil Montana’s Flathead River Valley and fragment North America’s most prized grizzly habitat.
The discovery by MAX Resource Corp. of Vancouver, about 10 miles northwest of the park boundary in British Columbia, is the latest volley in a 30-year debate over development of the Flathead River Valley, a 1-million-acre watershed spanning the U.S.-Canada border and including much of Glacier park and Flathead National Forest.
Montana's News Station: U.S. Senate approves funding for I-90 Interchange in Belgrade
Travelers may soon have an easier time getting to the Gallatin Field Airport with the installation of a new exit off of Interstate 90 near Belgrade.
The U.S. Senate approved a bill that includes funding for the additional exit, senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus announced Tuesday.
“This investment in the I-90 Interchange is going to help create badly-needed jobs in our community,” said Belgrade City Manager Joe Menicucci. “It is funding that wouldn’t be on its way without the hard work of senators Tester and Baucus. We appreciate their help.”
Great Falls Tribune: Laid-off workers at Smurfit-Stone to get aid
HELENA (AP) — Workers losing their jobs at a Missoula-area mill are eligible for a federal job assistance program.
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. will close its paper mill near Frenchtown at the end of the year, eliminating 417 manufacturing jobs in western Montana.
Sidney Herald: Gun rights
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has thrown his support behind a bipartisan measure that will protect and strengthen gun rights in the Senate’s health care reform bill.
If passed, the amendment forbids companies from raising health insurance premiums or denying health care coverage to law-abiding Americans who keep guns in their homes.
