Environmental Ratings for Congress Released; Senate Sets Record for Number Of 'Zeroes'.

Rather than heading off environmental attacks, in 1999 the Senate spearheaded efforts to benefit special interests at the expense of the environment and taxpayers. 

 

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Subject:   The Newest Environmental Ratings-----
Date:        Fri, 11 Feb 2000 08:54:03 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an E-Wire Press Release entitled: Environmental Ratings for Congress Released; Senate Sets Record for Number Of 'Zeroes'.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 -/E-Wire/-- A record number of U.S. Senators earned a "zero" environmental rating on the 1999 National Environmental Scorecard released today by the League of Conservation Voters. Thirty-seven Senators, over one-third of the chamber, failed to cast a single environmental vote-the highest number of Senate "zeroes" since the League started keeping score in 1970.

"Last year the Senate reversed its role as the moderating voice on environmental policy," said league president Deb Callahan. "Rather than heading off environmental attacks, in 1999 the Senate spearheaded efforts to benefit special interests at the expense of the environment and taxpayers. While the House was not devoid of its share of anti-environment legislation, Republicans and Democrats alike did make an effort to block some of the anti- environment efforts of the Senate."

The votes included in the 1999 National Environmental Scorecard are based on the consensus recommendation of experts from over 20 nonpartisan environmental, conservation and sportsmen's groups. The votes include key Congressional action on issues such as public lands and natural resource protection, efforts to rollback environmental protections and funding for conservation programs. Based on the tallies, the LCV Scorecard assigns a percentage score to every Representative and Senator. A 100 percent score indicates the strongest environmental commitment, while a zero percent shows consistent votes against conservation and public health protections.

For the fifth consecutive year, Congressional environmental scores averaged below 50 percent-41 percent in the Senate and 46 percent in the House. For the third year in a row, the top members of the Senate majority leadership team failed to cast a single vote in favor of conservation. The Senate minority leadership dropped to a 63 percent average, from 78 percent in 1998. On balance, Democrats outscored Republicans by over 60 points in each chamber. However, 29 Republicans outperformed the national average in the House or Senate.

Of particular concern to the League is the zero percent score earned by Senator Robert Smith (R-N.H.) who recently became chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. Smith replaced the late John Chafee (R-R.I.) who compiled a 70 percent lifetime environmental average and was known as a leader in building bipartisan consensus for environmental protection. Callahan stated that Smith's poor environmental showing does not bode well for the future leadership of the committee and hopes that Smith will work with the environmental community and members of both political parties to forge positive environmental progress.

Callahan also stated that during the 106th Congress, groups who lobby on behalf of the mining, timber, oil and similar industries attempted to use their wealth to curry favor with elected officials and weaken health and environmental protections.

"The American public clearly believes that Congress should be working to pass and fund the enforcement of stronger, not weaker, environmental and public health protections," Callahan said. "However, too many members of Congress continue to turn their eye on the largess of polluting industries while turning their back on the public's interest."

In 1999, special interests actively sought legislative efforts to expand the use of public lands for the dumping of mining waste, to allow the oil industry to avoid paying $66-100 million in oil royalties per year for drilling on public lands, and to increase taxpayer subsidies for logging.

"Money in politics continues to stand in the way of consistent and meaningful environmental advances," Callahan said. "If the public's interest in a healthy environment is to ever gain equal footing with the special interests' desire for increased profit margin and decreased regulation, our system of campaign finance must be reformed." The 1999 Scorecard reports how Senators and Representatives voted on campaign finance reform legislation; however, these votes are not factor into the members' environmental scores.

LCV's 1999 National Environmental Scorecard, complete with scores for each member of the House and Senate, is available to the public over the Internet at http://www.lcv.org or by calling 202-785-8683.

The nonprofit League of Conservation Voters is the bipartisan political voice for the environment. LCV is the only organization working full-time to inform citizens about the environmental records of Members of Congress. LCV has published a Scorecard for each Congress since 1970.

SOURCE League of Conservation Voters

CONTACT: Lisa Wade of the League of Conservation Voters, 202-785-8683, ext. 586/

Website: http://www.lcv.org

Well Lyndon, Whatever happened to "our" government - "of the people, by the people and for the people"? Do you care?

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten.