Campaign Watch: Most NC Reps Flunk National Environmental Scorecard

There’s a lot of competition for class dunce in the NC delegation to Congress. In fact, eight out of our 13 Representatives in the U.S. House scored fat zeros on their environmental votes in 2016.

That’s right: They voted against the environment on every key vote scored.

According to the recently released 2016 National Environmental Scorecard, eight of North Carolina’s Congressional Representatives were as bad on the environment as it was possible to be last year. Their zero scores dragged down the average of our state’s overall delegation to 24% (out of a possible 100). In fact, they were among the major contributors to what is now rated as “the most anti-environmental [House of Representatives] in our nation’s history.”

North Carolina’s two Senators weren’t a lot better. In the Senate votes for 2016, Sen. Richard Burr scored 24% and Sen. Thom Tillis scored 18%.

The eight delegates from North Carolina who scored zero in the U.S. House were Representatives Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, Mark Walker, David Rouzer, Richard Hudson, Robert Pittenger, Mark Meadows, and George Holding (all Republicans). Patrick McHenry scored 3%, and Walter Jones was the “star” of the House Republicans from NC with 21%.

“North Carolina voters expect their leaders in Washington D.C. to do what is best for them here at home,” noted Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations for NCLCV. “Unfortunately, the majority of our representatives failed to recall this core job responsibility. From rolling back safeguards for our air and water to trying to undermine clean energy advancements, members like Reps. Virginia Foxx and George Holding put polluters’ agendas ahead of the health of North Carolinians, environmental protections, and severe weather actions. Fortunately, environmental allies like Reps. Alma Adams and David Price consistently stood up to these radical attacks.”

Among the Democratic Representatives from North Carolina, G.K. Butterfield scored 89%, and Alma Adams and David Price were the leading environmental champions with 100% perfect pro-environment scores.

LCV has compiled the National Environmental Scorecard for over 40 years. During that time, it has been the premiere national rating tool for members of Congress on matters of the environment, public health, and clean energy. All the details on the 2016 scorecard, including which votes were scored and how each member of Congress voted on each one, can be found here.

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