MONTANA - KEN MILLER FOR GOVERNOR - A CONSERVATIVE

KEN MILLER FOR GOVERNOR

Dear Patriot,

For the past nearly twelve days, the national media has been focused on our town of Laurel, Montana and the Exxon Mobil pipeline.  I’ve driven along the river site; have spoken to our friends and neighbors, business people and landowners.  Last night, I attended the EPA community meeting at Laurel High School and was impressed with the tone of the meeting, the professionalism of the response from the Laurel and Billings communities, and the environmental teams working on the river.

However, the inflammatory rhetoric displayed by our current governor bothers me greatly and this is a clear area where we need new leadership, and a new tone, in Montana government. 

I believe Governor Schweitzer’s response to the spill has effectively reaffirmed to the world Montana is not interested in the natural resource economy.  No one believes Montana should let itself be run over by irresponsible companies, but we are also a natural resource economy, we need to be able to respond to situations like the Silvertip Pipeline without using such accidents to play politics over sound policy. 

Instead, our current Governor is rushing to judgment first while the entire goal should be to have our Montana government do everything possible to assist by removing unwarranted obstacles so the professionals may quickly get the spill cleaned up, ensure those affected are compensated, and then figure out what went wrong, how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

Montana has already been suffering from a lack of economic opportunity and low wages for our citizens, and we need companies to continue investing and building more jobs in our state.  My agenda includes doing everything in my power to restore our state’s economy by using the natural treasures we are blessed with as part of our treasure state.  

It is wrong that our citizens are leaving their families to work in Wyoming and North Dakota because they are states that have been able to develop their resource economies while also preserving a clean environment.  Nobody is saying we don’t want clean air and water, but with new leadership, Montana can have both a strong economy and the beautiful landscape we all call home.  

The first step is to change the tone in Montana by telling the world we are business friendly while also standing firm that our environmental laws will also be vigorously enforced.  Natural resource jobs are a great contribution to our state’s economy, and I will ensure the tone of my administration works to address accidents like Silvertip Pipeline without telling the nation Montana is closed for business.

Thank you for helping us build a better Montana for the next generation.

Sincerely,

Ken Miller
Republican Candidate for Montana Governor
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