New Documents Reveal A GOP Senate Candidate’s Blatant Lies

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Montana businessman Tim Sheehy built his aerial firefighting company, Bridger Aerospace, on certain scientific realities — namely that global climate change is real and driving more extreme wildfires. He even touted it as a leader in the fight against planet-warming emissions.

But when it came time to campaign for the U.S. Senate, the GOP hopeful quickly embraced partisan talking points on climate, repeatedly railing against what he calls the “climate cult” and “radical environmentalists,” while blaming the growing wildfire threat exclusively on forest mismanagement.

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And while the Trump-endorsed MAGA conservative flipped his script on climate, his company continues to embrace climate and wildfire science — at least in public filings.

In its latest annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, filed in March, Bridger Aerospace writes that “we believe that rising global temperatures have been, and in the future are expected to be, one factor contributing to increasing rates and severity of wildfires.” It cites climate research, including an Environmental Protection Agency website that notes “multiple studies have found that climate change has already led to an increase in wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and burned area.” And it warns shareholders and potential investors that climate change poses numerous risks to the company.

“The potential physical effects of climate change, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods, fires, fog, mist, freezing conditions, sea-level rise, and other climate-related events, could affect our operations, infrastructure, and financial results,” the document states.

“Further, we have been studying the potential effects of climate change (increased severity and frequency of storm events, sea level rise, land subsidence, change in temperature extremes, changes in precipitation patterns and drought, and wildfire) on Bridger’s assets, operations and services, and we are developing adaptation plans to set forth a strategy for those events and conditions that we believe are most significant,” it continues. “Consequences of these climate-driven events may vary widely and could include increased stress on our services due to new patterns of demand, physical damage to our fleet and infrastructure, higher operational costs and an increase in the number [of] requests for our services. In addition, we could incur substantial costs to repair or replace aircraft and facilities.”

Advertisement Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and the founder of an aerial firefighting company based in Montana, announced his Republican campaign for the U.S. Senate last year.Tim Sheehy for Montana

Sheehy, a decorated former Navy SEAL, founded Bridger Aerospace in 2014 after retiring from the military and has continued to serve as its chief executive officer while running for office.

It wasn’t long ago that Sheehy spoke freely about the climate and wildfire threats. In a January 2023 interview with journalist Jane King on Nasdaq Marketplace, Sheehy described wildfires as a global, climate-fueled “crisis.”

“The wildfire crisis is really spreading globally as we see the effects of climate change and urbanization,” he said. “We’re seeing fires become larger, they move faster, they’re hotter, and most importantly it’s becoming more and more critical to combat them early because of the amount of settlement we have in wildfire prone areas.”

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Sheehy said demand for his company’s services has “skyrocketed” in recent years, with no signs of slowing down.