The backlash against Montana Senator Conrad Burns’ (R) environmentalism has begun.

While Gloria Flora, the “grandmother” of the movement to protect the Rocky Mountain Front, is celebrating Burns’ efforts to halt future drilling there, columnists and Republicans are calling hooey. It seems that poor Burns is unable to please everyone.

Earlier this week Montana’s lone congressman, Denny Rehberg (R), announced that he is against the proposal, noting that “we must end our reliance on foreign sources of energy” and that the Montana Front might have natural gas and oil ripe for the drilling.

A poll by Public Opinion Strategies in April found that 54 percent of Montanans back a permanent ban on drilling, suggesting that Burns’ proposal may have more to do with his race with state Senator Jon Tester (D) than a real change of heart on the issue.

But for Montana voters who are still worried that their senator has become a tree-hugging hippie, fear not. In the same appropriation bill as Front protection, Burns inserted language to allow for continued use of polluting snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park.