Washington, D.C. – The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, which works to elect candidates who will support sound environmental policies, announced today its endorsement of former Governor Phil Bredesen for U.S. Senate from Tennessee.

“Phil Bredesen is an accomplished public servant and a model for how to both protect our environment and grow the economy,” said LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld. “Under his leadership, Tennessee created hundreds of thousands of jobs at the same time as the state conserved important public lands, protected clean water and made major strides towards investing in clean energy. We know that Governor Bredesen will bring this same independent, solutions-oriented approach to the U.S. Senate and we are proud to endorse him.”

“Phil Bredesen, as a two-term Tennessee governor with wide cross-party support, managed to put his conservation ideals into practice,” said Tennessee Conservation Voters Board Member Michelle Haynes. “He protected thousands of wilderness acres even in the face of a grim economic situation. He doesn’t just think about the environment, he reaches across the aisle to create bipartisan solutions to difficult environmental issues. We look forward to working with Phil Bredesen in the U.S. Senate to address some of our state and our nation’s most pressing problems.”

“One of the things I love about Tennessee is its rich natural diversity, from the Great Smoky Mountains through the Cumberland Plateau and down through the Mississippi watershed. During my time as Governor, we worked hard to conserve Tennessee’s land for future generations, but I still have a sense of unfinished business,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “In the U.S Senate, I look forward to working with anyone who wants to keep Tennessee beautiful and support infrastructure improvements in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as to fight the spread of Asian carp in Tennessee.”

Phil Bredesen is a former governor, mayor and CEO who has spent his career working on common-sense solutions in the public and private sectors. As governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011, Bredesen championed land and water conservation initiatives, created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and generated more than $34 billion in new business investments. To preserve Tennessee’s forests, streams and open spaces, Bredesen founded the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, protecting more than 40,000 acres for future generations. Through a series of public-private partnerships, his Connecting the Cumberlands initiative saved 127,000 acres as part of Tennessee’s largest conservation effort since the dedication of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He convened a Task Force on Energy Policy with the aim of developing recommendations for Tennessee to become a leader in clean energy which resulted in the state legislature enacting the Tennessee Clean Energy Future Act. Bredesen continues to be active in the Nashville and statewide community, including founding the Land Trust for Tennessee, a nonprofit organization that works statewide to preserve open space and traditional family farms.

About LCV Action Fund

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, the connected federal political action committee (PAC) of the League of Conservation Voters, works to elect candidates who will implement sound environmental laws and policies, and defeat those who stand in the way of progress. Since the 1994 election cycle, LCVAF has helped elect and re-elect 74 U.S. senators and 331 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the last several years, our efforts have also helped elevate climate change and clean energy as critical issues in key elections.

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Paid for by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and authorized by Bredesen for Senate.