High Environmental Marks For NY's Congressional Delegation

Feb. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- NEW YORK – The New York League of Conservation Voters joined the national League of Conservation Voters in releasing the 2011 National Environmental Scorecard, revealing scores for the New York delegation in the first session of the 112th Congress.

The 2011 Scorecard reflects numerous anti-environmental votes in the U.S. House of Representatives, punctuated by unparalleled assaults on critical environmental and public health safeguards.  The good news is that while the House voted against the environment many times, both the U.S. Senate and the Obama administration stood fast against the vast majority of these attacks.

“New York’s senators had perfect scores and 17 of our House members achieved scores of 90 or above on the 2011 National Environmental Scorecard. Their efforts underscore just how much New Yorkers care about clean energy and a more sustainable future,” said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. “Unfortunately, a number of New York delegation members are not heeding their constituents' calls for environmental progress. We look forward to working with these lower-scoring members, as well as the New York delegation as a whole, to transition our nation to clean-energy economy and more sustainable future."

The full 2011 National Environmental Scorecard can be found at www.lcv.org/scorecard.

The 2011 Scorecard includes 11 Senate and a record 35 House votes on issues ranging from public health protections to clean energy to land and wildlife conservation. The House votes included in the 2011 Scorecard are simply many of the most significant votes taken in a year that saw the House voting more than 200 times on the environment and public health.

“In 2011, the House Republican leadership unleashed a truly breathtaking and unprecedented assault on the environment and public health, the breadth and depth of which have made the current U.S. House of Representatives the most anti-environmental in our nation’s history,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “LCV is grateful to those members of the New York delegation and to the Obama administration for helping to ensure that the House Republican leadership did not succeed in gutting our nation’s cornerstone environmental and public health protections in 2011.  We look forward to working together in 2012 and beyond to protect the planet for future generations.”

The 2011 National Environmental Scorecard results for New York are:

SENATE

Charles Schumer (D), 100

Kirsten Gillibrand (D), 100

U.S. HOUSE

Tim Bishop (D), 100

Steve Israel (D), 100

Pete King (R), 14

Carolyn McCarthy (D), 86

Gary Ackerman (D), 94

Gregory W. Meeks (D), 97

Joseph Crowley (D), 94

Jerrold Nadler (D), 97

Turner, Bob (R), 0 * Member did not serve full year.
Anthony D. Weiner (D), 88 * Member did not serve full year.

Edolphus Towns (D), 97

Yvette D. Clarke (D), 100

Nydia M. Velázquez (D), 97
.
Michael Grimm (R), 14

Carolyn Maloney (D), 97

Charles B. Rangel (D), 94

José E. Serrano (D), 100

Eliot Engel (D), 94

Nita Lowey (D), 97

Nan Hayworth (R), 43

Chris Gibson (R), 17

Paul D. Tonko (D), 97

Maurice Hinchey (D), 69

Bill Owens (D), 63

Richard Hanna (R), 29

Ann Marie Buerkle (R), 9

Kathy Hochul (D), 90 * Member did not serve full year.

Brian Higgins (D), 91

Louise Slaughter (D), 89

Tom Reed (R), 14

New York’s average scores were 100 for the Senate and 72 for the U.S. House, compared with the national averages of 55 for the Senate and 45 for the House.

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.

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The New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) was founded in 1989 as a nonpartisan, policy-making and political action organization that works to make environmental protection a top priority with elected officials, decision makers, and voters by evaluating incumbent performance and endorsing and electing environmental leaders to office in New York State. Learn more at http://www.nylcv.org.