As we noted earlier this week, we are in the midst of the most significant attack on the Environmental Protection Agency in the agency’s history. Big Oil and Dirty Coal – and their allies in Congress – are attempting to dismantle the commonsense safeguards that protect our environment and public health.
It is against this backdrop that we are releasing the 2010 National Environmental Scorecard, which provides objective, factual information about the most important environmental legislation considered and the corresponding voting records of all members of the second session of the 111th Congress.
The 111th Congress started off with great promise for the environment, most significantly with House passage of comprehensive energy and climate legislation. As the 2010 National Environmental Scorecard reflects, the successes of 2009 were followed by an incredibly disappointing second session in 2010.
Indeed, the most important votes of 2010 are the ones that didn’t happen: first and most importantly, the Senate failed to even begin debate on a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill that would have created jobs, increased America’s energy independence, and protected the planet from carbon pollution; next, the Senate failed to respond to the greatest disaster in our nation’s history — the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While the lack of progress in 2010 is highly disappointing, we applaud those members of Congress who fought to protect public health and the environment and reduce our nation’s dangerous dependence on oil. Conversely, the 2010 Scorecard clearly exposes those members who put corporate polluters and other special interests ahead of the health and well-being of all Americans by opposing efforts to protect the environment.
Despite the disappointments of 2010, LCV will continue to work for environmental policies that protect our planet for future generations. We will also fight to protect the EPA and hold accountable those who seek to undermine our environmental protections. And we will call on you to contact your elected officials to urge them to support critical environmental legislation and oppose efforts to cripple the EPA in 2011 and beyond.
We also need your help to educate everyone you know about how members of Congress voted on the environment last year. After viewing the 2010 National Environmental Scorecard, please spread the word by forwarding this to your friends and family. And be sure to stay on top of our work by following LCV on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for your generous support of LCV.
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
President
League of Conservation Voters
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