Statement on the Death of Senator Lee Metcalf

The death of Senator Lee Metcalf stills a voice that had long spoken up for preserving the great wilderness areas of this country. He came from the land of the Big Sky, of wide plains and rugged mountains, where a traveler can go for miles without meeting another person. He was a friend of working people and family farmers and an early sponsor of legislation for clean water, Federal aid to education, and reclamation of strip-mined land. He was beginning his 18th year in the Senate, after 8 years in the House and 6 years as a Montana supreme court justice. During his nearly 25 years on Capitol Hill, he had become a guardian of the public interest in dealing with the utilities and an advocate of congressional reform and budgetary control.
His loss will be deeply felt.