Press Release
February 24, 2016
Contact: Jenesse Miller, 510-844-0235
OAKLAND, CALIF. – The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) unveiled the scores for the California delegation released this morning as part of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) 2015 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard reveals the most anti-environmental Congress in our history, despite the fact that many members of the California delegation continued to advocate for solutions to climate change and other environmental challenges. The Scorecard is available in both English and Spanish at scorecard.lcv.org.
“Once again, too many members of Congress were complicit in extreme attacks on both bedrock environmental laws and more recent progress to protect our air, water, public lands and wildlife,” said Sarah Rose, CEO of CLCV. “Despite last year being the hottest year on record and the fourth year of a historic drought in California, members of Congress like Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. LaMalfa, Valadao, and Issa put polluters’ agenda ahead of the health of Californians, environmental protections and climate action. Fortunately, environmental allies like Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Minority Leader Pelosi, and Reps. Brownley, Chu, Huffman, Lowenthal, Roybal-Allard, and dozens of other California members with high scores, consistently stood up to these radical attacks.”
The 2015 Scorecard includes votes cast during the first session of the 114th Congress. Both chambers seemingly left no environmental issue untouched in 2015, with assaults on the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Antiquities Act. It includes 35 House votes, which ties the record for the most votes scored in the House for the fourth time in five years, and 25 votes in the Senate, the second highest number ever included.
The good news is that the Scorecard also includes many votes led by environmental allies who stood up for climate change science, clean energy, public lands, wildlife protections, among other issues. Thanks to President Obama and environmental champions in Congress virtually all of the legislative attacks on the environment and public health were defeated.
In California, 14 House members along with Senator Barbara Boxer earned a score of 100 percent on the 2015 Scorecard, while 14 House members earned abysmal scores between 0-6 percent.
“The 2015 Scorecard shows that the radical leadership in the House and Senate wasted no time pursuing big polluters’ agenda last year, and their environmental assault is well underway in 2016,” said League of Conservation Votes President Gene Karpinski. “Fortunately, we have a growing force of environmental allies, including the president, as well as many in Congress, who are working tirelessly to combat climate change, transition to a clean energy economy and safeguard our air, water, lands and wildlife.”
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. For more information, visit http://scorecard.lcv.org.
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.
