NJ League of Conservation Voters Announces Congressional Delegation Scores from 2016 National Environmental Scorecard
New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Announces Congressional Delegation Scores from 2016 National Environmental Scorecard
NJ’s 2 U.S. Senators and 3 members of Congress Score 100%; 4 House Members Fail Badly
Full Scorecard available here: http://scorecard.lcv.org
TRENTON – The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters unveiled scores for the 14 members of the New Jersey delegation as part of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) 2016 National Environmental Scorecard released today.
The annual scorecard includes 17 votes in the Senate and 38 House votes, a new record for the number of votes scored for the annual tally. New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez (D) and Cory Booker (D) each scored 100 percent; the House delegation scored 60 percent overall, led by Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12), Donald Norcross (D-1), Frank Pallone (D-6), each of whom achieved a perfect score. New Jersey was one of 11 states in which both senators earned perfect scores, but the state was 13th among state House scores.
“The scorecard holds elected officials accountable to the citizens they represent for their votes on the environment,” said Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey LCV. “Voters overwhelmingly want clean air, safe drinking water and open spaces to enjoy. The scorecard gives voters a clear picture of who is standing up for their interests and who is selling out to polluters and developers.”
“I want to thank LCV for their leadership on environmental issues and am honored to have received a perfect score on their 2016 Scorecard,” said Menendez. “Now more than ever we need to stand together and fight for sound polices that protect our great state and country. Through executive orders and the appointment of Big Oil sympathizers to top administration posts, we know more attacks on clean water and our environment are coming, but protecting the health of New Jerseyans, safeguarding our environment, and fighting climate change have been hallmarks of my career in the Senate. I look forward to working with LCV to fight the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back the progress we have made and to assure we protect our environment for future generations. ”
Watson Coleman, who has been in Congress for two years, is the only member of New Jersey’s delegation to have a lifetime score of 100. Three others – Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-9), Donald Payne (D-10) and Albio Sires (D-8) – each scored in the 90s, bolstering their distinguished records of protecting the environment.
“Despite the views of this administration and our new EPA administrator, censoring climate change information will not reduce this urgent threat and defining challenge of our time,” said Watson Coleman. “The burdens of air pollution, toxic hazards and water pollution are impacting communities now and will do so well into the future if we do not work to preserve our environment. As a member of Congress, I will continue to be engaged in efforts that will change the way we look at energy, make us less reliant on fossil fuels, and allow us to embrace renewable energy resources,” she added.
“It’s an honor to receive a 100 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Their work to protect our environment is more important than ever, and I’m proud to support their mission,” Norcross said. “Growing up in New Jersey and spending countless hours down the Shore, I’ve witnessed how far we’ve come in cleaning up and protecting our state’s land and water. We can’t reverse course now. We must protect our water from pollution and replace failing pipes, clean up decades-old Superfund sites, and stand together to ensure our natural treasures are preserved for generations to come.”
Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11), Leonard Lance (R-7), Tom MacArthur (R-3) and Scott Garrett (R-5) used almost every vote to attack preservation and conservation and roll back clean air, water and land protections. Garrett, who was defeated in November, scored a delegation low of just 3 percent, followed closely by 8 percent for Frelinghuysen and 13 percent scores by MacArthur and Lance.
Rounding out the delegation scores, Frank LoBiondo (R-2) scored 50 percent and Chris Smith (R-4) scored 45 percent.
“We are incredibly proud of our champions for defending the environment against polluter-driven attacks, voting to protect the health and safety of all New Jerseyans, and pursuing environmental justice on behalf low-income communities that for too long have been dumping grounds for industrial waste,” said Potosnak. “The loss of the House incumbent with the worst environmental record should send a signal to our other low scorers that LCV is committed to electing environmental champions at all levels of government and defeating those who vote to deny climate science, promote fossil fuels and rollback clean water and air rules.”
LCV President Gene Karpinski added: “In the final year of the Obama administration, the Republican leadership in Congress continued its relentless assault on both bedrock environmental protections and recent progress even as we experienced the hottest year on record – for the third year in a row – and world leaders came together on Earth Day to sign the historic climate agreement reached in Paris. Fortunately, President Obama and our allies in Congress beat back the vast majority of these attacks and stood up for the health of our families, communities of color on the frontlines of climate change, and the international consensus to take action on climate.”
For more than 40 years, LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health, and energy issues. To view the entire scorecard, visit http://scorecard.lcv.org
