Green group ranks lawmakers’ environmental voting records

{mosads}The group gave 31 senators and 24 representatives a 100 percent score, while 13 senators and four representatives earned a 0 percent score.

Topping the list are Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.).

GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and John Thune (S.D.) and GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.), among others, have the worst environmental records in Congress, according to LCV.

LCV also noted that the 2010 election cycle ushered in members with low environmental voting scores.

“A major indicator of the change in landscape in the House for 2011 is the fact that the average lifetime score of members defeated in the 2010 election cycle was 73 percent while the average 2011 score of the House members who replaced them is 15 percent,” the group said.

The group analyzed votes to limit or block Environmental Protection Agency regulations, eliminate oil industry tax breaks and expand offshore drilling, among others.

LCV praised Senate Democrats and President Obama for making sure “that the House leadership did not succeed in gutting our nation’s cornerstone environmental and public health protections in 2011.”