FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Contact: Doug Jackson
doug@targetedpersuasion.com
252.432.9716
**Full Scorecard available in English and Spanish here**
RALEIGH, NC – The North Carolina League of Conservation Voters today unveiled scores for the North Carolina congressional delegation as part of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) 2015 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard includes the most votes ever scored and reveals the most anti-environmental Congress in our history. This is in line with the same attacks on commonsense protections for clean air and water that we are seeing from state policymakers. The Scorecard is available in both English and Spanish at scorecard.lcv.org.
“Far too many members of Congress were a part of extreme attacks on both established environmental laws and more recent progress in protecting our air, water, wildlife and natural heritage,” said NCLCV’s Director of Governmental Relations Dan Crawford. “Despite last year being the hottest year on record, members like Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. George Holding put polluters’ agendas ahead of the health of North Carolinians, environmental protections and action on climate change. Fortunately, reliable environmental allies like Rep. David Price and Rep. Alma Adams consistently stood up for people instead of polluters.”
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, and 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 North Carolina’s delegation, three House members earned a score of 80 percent or greater on the 2015 Scorecard, while nine House members and both Senators earned an abysmal score of 10 percent or less. The average House score in 2015 for North Carolina was 24 percent and the average Senate score was four 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.”
North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation Scores:
Senate:
- Burr – 4%
- Tillis – 4%
House:
- Butterfield – 91%
- Ellmers – 6%
- Jones – 17%
- Price – 100%
- Foxx – 0%
- Walker – 0%
- Rouzer – 0%
- Hudson – 0%
- Pittenger – 0%
- McHenry – 0%
- Meadows – 3%
- Adams – 97%
- Holding – 0%
“It’s clear that our policymakers in Raleigh are following the lead of their colleagues in Washington, D.C. when it comes to putting the wants of polluters over the needs of people,” said Crawford. “North Carolinians deserve to breathe clean air and drink clean water and they don’t want sea level rise to drown our Outer Banks, but it seems our politicians just don’t see it that way.”
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, visitscorecard.lcv.org.
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