League of Conservation Voters

The League of Conservation Voters has released its Congressional environmental scorecard for 2012. For the 14 considered votes in the Senate, Bob Casey scored 79 pct in 2012 (lifetime- 93 pct) whereas Pat Toomey scored 0 pct (9 pct). Perhaps in deference to labor unions, Casey dropped points for his support of the Keystone XL Pipeline. In the House Mike Doyle did well with a 77 pct score (70 pct lifetime) on 35 votes, losing points with support of nuclear and fossil fuel funding. Democrat Altmire scored 29 pct before retiring, and Critz scored 43 pct. Among the region’s Republicans, Murphy scored 11 pct, Thompson 9 pct, and Kelly and Shuster 6 pct each.

Thanks to Dave Meiser of the SC Pennsylvania Chapter for collecting environmental scorecards for PA Members of Congressmen. Unfortunately, here in western Pa we only had one winner – Mike Doyle (D-Pittsburgh). The rest were losers – Jason Altmire (D-North Hills), Mark Critz (D-Johnstown),
Mike Kelly (R-Butler), Tim Murphy (R-Mt Lebanon), Glen Thompson (R-Bellafonte), and Bill Shuster (R-Hollidaysburg).

Contact your Congressman and let him know how you feel about his environmental voting record, and urge him to vote for the environment in the Lame Duck session.

Enacted by what now seems a far different Congress, the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 stands as one of the pillars of environmental protection. As the NRDC’s Peter Lehner points out in Politico, the Act is still an essential component of the toolkit that citizens and organizations need to protect the public’s health. Unfortunately, the CWA is under attack from right-wing elements in Congress, as shown by the Sierra Club’s recent accounting of fourteen House votes aimed at gutting the CWA. Among our Western Pennsylvania Congressmen, only Mike Doyle received an ‘A’ grade, and all other failed, both Dems and Reps.

Preparing for press conference outside Sen. Pippy’s Mt Lebanon office: Erika Staaf (PennEnvironment), Anita Barkin (Jefferson Hills), Claudia Kirkpatrick (Sierra Club), Steve Hvozdovic (Clean Water Action), Deborah Lee, Dave Tucci (Mt Lebanon), Patrick Grenter (Center for Coalfield Justice). Photo: T. Hoffmann.

Let your state Senator and Representative know that you know how he voted on Act 13 (HB1950)

Want to know how your representatives in the state legislature voted on the disastrous Marcellus Gas bill, Act 13 (HB 1950)? Four state environmental organizations including the Sierra Club have produced an interactive county-by-county scorecard on eight votes in the Senate and thirteen in the House. After checking the scorecard, please let your Senator and Representative know what you think of their performance, GOOD or BAD. (more…)

League of Conservation Voters

After posting an assessment of congress in 2011 as the Most Anti-Environmental in History, last week the League of Conservation Voters issued a scorecard based on twenty-five environment-related votes in the House Of Representatives in 2011. Heading the performance of local Congressman is Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pittsburgh) with a praiseworthy score of 96%; Doyle missed 100% because of an absence on one vote. The two other local Democrats, who may be running against each other in the newly re-districted Twelfth Congressional District, did not do as well. Rep. Mark Critz (D-Johnstown) scored 52% and Rep. Jason Altmire (D- Aliquippa) scored 32%. Reflecting the partisanship of the House, Republicans Kelly (Butler), Murphy (Mt Lebanon.), Shuster (Hollidaysburg) and Thompson (Bellefonte) all scored just four percent for a single vote on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. NOTE. Rep. Ron Paul’s LCV score in 2011 was zero.

Some environmental highlights of the past year:

The GOOD:

• EPA regulations for auto emissions.
• EPA Regulations for medium and heavy trucks emissions.
• EPA mercury rule for power plants.
• Beyond Coal Campaign going strong.
• Pittsburgh City Council passes Clean Air Act to control diesel emissions.
• Launch of the ‘Breathe Project’ and the ‘Clean Rivers Campaign’.

The BAD:

• Complete failure of Congressional leadership to address climate change.
• Deplorable Marcellus legislation passed by the state House and Senate.
• Pittsburgh drilling “Bill of Rights” referendum denied by Mayor Ravenstahl.
• Pennsylvania’s neglect of solar energy programs.

Too Early to Tell:

• Durban climate change conference – China and India are now involved in the negotiations for new treaty.
• Moratorium on additional drilling in State Forests still in place.
• Tar sand Keystone XL Pipeline delayed.
• Occupy Wall Street movement, has the potential to lead to reduced corporate influence over election and legislative processes.

On October 28 the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action released an Environmental Scorecard that how how well individual state Representatives and Senators supported the environment during the 2009-10 Session. “Before voters head to the polls next Tuesday, the Environmental Scorecard is a way to see what a state legislators’ actual record has been over the past two years. Voters who care about the environment should hold their elected officials accountable,” stated Jeff Schmidt, Pennsylvania Chapter Director for the Sierra Club. (more…)

Three of the candidates in US. Senate primaries have served in Congress and therefore we have a record of their environmental votes. Each year the League of Conservation Voters develops a scorecard for every member of Congress, based on about fifteen or more key votes. As a public service, we present here the LCV scores for Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak (Rep. Sestak began his spell in Congress in 2007).

League of
Conservation Voters

2009
Sestak (D) ……….. 93%
Specter (R/D) ….. 64%

2008
Sestak (D) …… 92%
Specter (R) ….. 27%

2007
Sestak (D) ……. 100%
Specter (R) ……. 60%

A more extensive account of Senator Specter’s environmental voting record is available on this website.

For the years 1999 to 2004 that Pat Toomey was in Congress his “lifetime average” LCV score was 11%. For each of the last two years (2003 and 2004) Toomey’s score was zero percent.

The League of Conservation Voters has issued its Congressional scorecard for 2009. In addition to the House vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the 2009 Scorecard covers other key issues, such as public lands, water quantity and quality, forest management, offshore drilling, wildlife conservation at home and abroad, chemical security and population. The scores were based on 11 votes in the Senate and 14 votes in the House. An account of how local representatives scored is given below.
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With Sen. Arlen Specter’s shift to the Democrats, a question environmentalists may ask is “How well can we expect Sen. Specter to support environmental legislation, based on his past performance?”

The best guide we have to past performance are the League of Conservation Voters scorecards. Over the past ten years, Specter’s LCV score has ranged from a low of 14% in 2006 to a high of 60% in 2007, with an average score of 37%.  That erratic behavior is illustrated in Fig. A:

Recently Sen. Specter has been labeled as one of the few remaining Republican moderates, along with Senators Collins and Snowe of Maine. As far as support for the environment goes, that label might not be as accurate as we would like.  As seen in Fig. A, the Maine Senators have much higher LCV scores.

So how did Sen. Specter rank among the Republican Senators during the past ten years?  In Fig. B  we again see somewhat erratic behavior, with the top Republican LCV score in 2001 and as low as seventeenth in 2006:

This year Sen. Specter got off to a good start, voting for the stimulus bill and the omnibus public lands bill.  Let’s hope that he will move closer to the Maine Senators, even though he is now on the other side of the aisle.

According to the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), in 2008 Senator Bob Casey joined 26 other Senators to score 100% on eleven critical environmental votes. In 2007, only two other Senators scored 100%.

ACTION: Senator Casey certainly deserves the thanks of all environmentalists in this remarkable start to what we hope will be a long career in the U.S. Senate. Fax and email contact information for the Senator is at his website.

The record for Senator Arlen Specter is not as rosy. Siding with the Bush administration on all seven energy votes, the Senator received a score of only 27% in 2007, lower than the 60% in 2007 and even below his lifetime average of 44%. You can express your disappointment at the Senator’s website.

With his constituency core of urban Pittsburgh, Rep. Mike Doyle is enhancing his environmental record. In its 2008 Scorecard the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) gave Doyle a score of 92% on thirteen environmental votes. This is the highest score ever reached by Doyle, who scored 80% in 2007 and has a lifetime average of 62%.
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On February 20, the League of Conservation Voters released their scorecard for 2007.

Senator Bob Casey was one of only three Senators who gained a remarkable score of 100% across a broad range of fifteen critical votes. Only two other senators scored 100%: Senator Nelson of Florida and Senator Collins of Maine. Unfortunately, Senator Specter’s score of 60% reflects his continuing support of the oil industry and liquid coal.

Freshman Senator Casey deserves the thanks of all Pennsylvanians who are concerned about global warming and protecting the environment. Please FAX a simple letter of thanks to the Senator at Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. Fax: (202) 228-0604.

According to the League of Conservation Voters’ tabulation of twenty critical votes impacting the environment, the scores for our local Congressmen in 2007 were: Altmire, 80%; Doyle, 80%; Murtha, 75%; English, 35%; and Murphy, 20%. In general the congressmen voted along party lines, but not always. For example, Altmire voted for a failed amendment that would have eliminated funding for the Mexico wolf recovery program. In the case of the Smith amendment to HR 2754, Altmire also voted with Republicans to disallow overseas organizations that are otherwise ineligible for U.S. family planning funding to continue receiving contraceptives from the U.S. government. For complete details of votes, please go the LCV Website.

Author: Peter Wray
For the first time, the Pennsylvania League of Conservation Voters (PaLCV) has selected a group of “Environmental Champions” among the state legislators. For the 2005-06 Session the League based their score on eight key votes in the House and six in the Senate.

In the House the “Champions” from the Allegheny Group’s region are lead by Dave Levdansky of Elizabeth. In the following table are the House “Champions” with PaLCV scores for the 2005-06 Session of 88 pct or higher. These Champions are ranked according to their career PaLCV scores.

Representative05-06Career
Levdansky, David10095
Frankel, Dan10089
Harhai, Ted10087
Casorio, James10084
Veon, Michael10081
Walko, Don 8891
Ramaley, Sean 8888
Pistella, Frank 8885
Costa, Paul 8882
Dermody, Frank 8880
Wheatley, Jake 8879
Preston, Joseph 8877
Markosek, Joseph 8876
DeWeese, Bill 8875
Pallone, John 8873

Regrettably, all of the above are Democrats; the average 2005-06 score for ALL Democrats in the House was 79 pct and for Republicans it was 48 pct.

Only three of the fifty members of the Senate gained more than an 80 pct score in 2005-06 session, and two of them were “Champions” from the Allegheny Group’s region:

Senator05-06Career
Costa, Jay8374
Ferlo, Jim8362

For a copy of the PaLCV’s full report with an explanation of the votes, etc., please go to www.palcv.org.