Green group scores senators on Keystone votes

The League of Conservation Voters issued a “special edition” legislative scorecard to evaluate how senators’ votes on the Keystone XL pipeline align with the group’s environmental priorities.

Democrats got an average score of 93 percent, and Republicans averaged 5 percent.

{mosads}The League’s scorecard includes 18 environment related amendments to the Keystone bill and counts the vote on the bill itself twice.

The group said it usually releases scorecards annually, but it felt that the Keystone process deserved its own evaluation.

“We want to make sure people know right now that Republican leaders chose as their very first priority for 2015 a bill designed simply to benefit their polluter allies,” League President Gene Karpinski said in a Thursday statement.

The group issued the scorecard “because many votes on this bill presented senators with a clear choice: stand with polluters and double down on dirty energy at the expense of our environment, our health, and our climate, or promote a clean energy future,” Karpinski said.

Thirty-two senators — all Democrats — received a 100 percent score, meaning that all of their votes aligned with the League’s priorities. Thirty-seven senators — all Republicans — received scores of zero.