League of Conservation Voters Releases National Scorecard For New Jersey Congressional Delegation

TRENTON, NJ – Today, New Jersey LCV released the New Jersey delegation’s scores for the League of Conservation Voters’ 2022 National Environmental Scorecard highlighting how some members chose to champion the environment and protect our democracy, while others failed to do so. Since 1970, LCV’s Scorecard has been the primary yardstick for evaluating the environmental records of members of Congress. It is available for download in English here, in Spanish here, and online in both languages at scorecard.lcv.org.

2022 was the best year ever for climate action in Congress with the passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act that invests roughly $369 billion in advancing clean energy, creating good jobs, and fighting climate change and environmental injustice. This clean energy plan was finalized against a backdrop of devastating and costly climate-fueled extreme weather and oil and gas companies’ exploitation of Putin’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Every Democrat in our state’s delegation came together to make the country’s first transformational climate law a reality. Unfortunately, not a single Republican voted for this popular, affordable clean energy plan.

In stark contrast to previous sessions, 2022 was an exceptionally productive year for Congress. With the pro-environment-led House and Senate, Congress showed up and seized the opportunity to pass historic climate and clean energy policy. Yet some in New Jersey’s delegation ignored their own constituents, voting against new clean energy jobs, protecting our coastlines, clean water infrastructure, and voting rights.

“We are proud to have representatives fighting for our future,” said Ed Potosnak, Executive Director, New Jersey LCV.  “The New Jersey delegation has an average score of 85%. U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, along with Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Andy Kim, Frank Pallone, Albio Sires, and Bonnie Watson Coleman all earned perfect scores at 100%. But, dismayingly, Chris Smith with a score of 11% and Jeff Van Drew with a score of 5% continue to side with corporate polluters over New Jersey’s health and environment and refuse to protect our right to vote at a critical moment for the country. We know the work is still not done. The future of our planet and our democracy are at stake. We must hold leaders like Congressmen Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew accountable.  Additionally, we must build on Congress’ tremendous success by using funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to electrify transportation, improve stormwater infrastructure, and help with lead pipe remediation in overburdened communities.”

“I’m proud of my perfect score on this year’s League of Conservation Voters scorecard. Over the past two years, we’ve made enormous progress to combat the climate crisis, protect our environment, and transition to a clean economy with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Congressman Frank Pallone. “As the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I’ll continue to build on our progress to fight the climate crisis and ensure everyone has access to safe drinking water and clean air.”

“What a year of historic progress! In 2022, pro-environment majorities in the House and Senate showed the world what’s possible when leaders are committed to delivering the action on climate, clean energy, jobs and justice voters demand,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld. “In a year that saw more suffering from the climate crisis and more pain at the pump as oil and gas companies raised energy costs, environmental champions in Congress took transformative climate action to begin to insulate the U.S. from volatile fossil fuel prices and build an affordable clean energy future. This year, we are all in to support the swift, effective, and equitable implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, work with New Jersey’s champions in Congress to continue to fight for popular action on climate and environmental justice and block attempts to roll back environmental safeguards, and support the Biden-Harris administration’s finalization of critical health and climate protections across the agencies.”

The 2022 Scorecard includes dozens of votes on other impactful climate and environmental bills, as well as a number of votes in both chambers on legislation that would strengthen democracy including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the DISCLOSE Act. To safeguard equity, LCV’s 2022 Scorecard included votes in both chambers to protect same-sex and interracial marriages as well as reproductive rights.

For the first time this year, the Scorecard includes a new section highlighting the high-scoring leadership of the Tri-Caucus. Leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) scored an average 98% on the 2022 Scorecard and were instrumental to passing bold, pro-environment legislation, championed strong pro-democracy policies, and worked to address environmental injustice.

The catastrophic flooding from extreme storms that are destroying homes and businesses, air pollution with its life threatening health impacts, especially in low-income communities of color, and building a clean energy future required an all-of-government approach that Congress helped deliver, despite relentless attempts by the fossil fuel industry and other entrenched interests to put profits over New Jersey.

The 2022 Scorecard includes 23 votes in the Senate and 19 votes in the House, with the vote on the IRA counting twice in both chambers.

The full New Jersey delegation’s scores for 2022 are:

LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from more than 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including energy, climate change, environmental justice, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, democracy, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in the Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and helped distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. More information on individual votes and the Scorecard archive can be found at scorecard.lcv.org.