Press Release
February 7, 2012
Contact: Kate Geller, (202) 454-4573 or [email protected]
Jenesse Miller (510) 844-0235 or [email protected]
Full Scorecard available at www.lcv.org/scorecard
OAKLAND, Calif. – Today, the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) joined the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in releasing the 2011National Environmental Scorecard, revealing scores for the California delegation in the first session of the 112th Congress. The 2011 Scorecard reflects the most anti-environmental session of the U.S. House of Representatives in history, featuring unparalleled assaults on our nation’s bedrock environmental and public health safeguards.
The good news is that while the Republican-led House voted against the environment a shocking number of times, both the U.S. Senate and the Obama administration stood fast against the vast majority of these attacks. Indeed, not only did cornerstone environmental protections emerge from 2011 largely unscathed, the Obama administration also made major progress through administrative actions to protect our air and water.
“We applaud those members of the California delegation who opposed the countless attacks on vital public health and environmental protections in 2011, such as Senators Boxer and Feinstein and several members of the House of Representatives,” said CLCV CEO Warner Chabot. “However, it’s deeply disappointing that members like Congressman Lungren and Congressman McClintock chose to put corporate polluters and other special interests ahead of the health and well-being of Californians.”
“These scores will help California voters who care about our environment and our public health decide which lawmakers should be supported or defeated in the 2012 elections,” added Chabot.
The 2011 Scorecard includes 11 Senate and a record 35 House votes on issues ranging from public health protections to clean energy to land and wildlife conservation. The House votes included in the 2011 Scorecard are simply many of the most significant votes taken in a year that saw the House voting more than 200 times on the environment and public health.In California, seven House members (Chu, Hahn, Honda, Lee, Napolitano, Roybal-Allard and Woolsey) and both senators earned a perfect 100 percent score in 2011, while 13 House members (Calvert, Dreier, Gallegly, Herger, Hunter, Issa, Lungren, McCarthy, McClintock, Gary Miller, Nunes, Rohrabacher and Royce) earned particularly abysmal scores under ten percent.
“In 2011, the House Republican leadership unleashed a truly breathtaking and unprecedented assault on the environment and public health, the breadth and depth of which have made the current U.S. House of Representatives the most anti-environmental in our nation’s history,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “LCV is grateful to those members of the California delegation and to the Obama administration for helping to ensure that the House Republican leadership did not succeed in gutting our nation’s cornerstone environmental and public health protections in 2011. We look forward to working together in 2012 and beyond to protect the planet for future generations.”
For over 40 years, the National Environmental Scorecard issued by LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health and energy issues.
The full 2011National Environmental Scorecard can be found at www.lcv.org/scorecard
ABOUT CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS
California Environmental Voters (formerly the California League of Conservation Voters) believes the climate crisis is here and this moment requires transformative change. California has the policy solutions to stop climate change but lacks the political will to do it at the rate and scale that’s necessary. EnviroVoters exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. We organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. We won’t stop until we have resilient, healthy, thriving communities, and a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all. Join us at www.envirovoters.org and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. See more press releases.
