Maryland LCV Announces Delegation Scores from LCV’s 2016 National Environmental Scorecard

Thursday, February 23, 2017
Contact: Karla Raettig, 202-674-3174 (c) kraettig@mdlcv.org

Maryland LCV Announces Delegation Scores from LCV’s 2016 National Environmental Scorecard

**Full Scorecard available inEnglish and Spanish here**

Annapolis, MD–Maryland LCV today unveiled scores for the Maryland delegation released this morning as part of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) 2016 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard includes 17 votes in the Senate votes and 38 House votes, which sets a new record for the most votes scored in the House and reflects that, under Speaker Paul Ryan, the U.S. House remains the most anti-environmental in history. This is in direct contrast to President Obama who led the way on combating climate change and protecting our environment. The Scorecard is available in both English and Spanish at scorecard.lcv.org.

“Once again, too many members of Congress were complicit in extreme attacks on many of our cornerstone environmental laws that protect our air, water, wildlife and public lands,”  Maryland LCV’s Executive Director, Karla Raettig. “Fortunately, our Congressional delegation, with the exception of Congressman Andy Harris, consistently opposed these polluter-driven attacks, fighting for the health of Marylanders, our environment, and our future.”

The 2016 Scorecard scores votes cast during the second session of the 114^th Congress. It includes 38 House votes, setting a new record for the most votes scored in the House and reflecting that, under Speaker Paul Ryan, the U.S. House remains the most anti-environmental in history. The average House Republican score for 2016 was five percent, while the average House Democrat score was ninety-four percent.

The good news is that the number of environmental champions in Congress continues to grow, and they are becoming more vocal and effective than ever before. Our environmental allies stood up for our clean air and water, public lands, climate science, wildlife, and more. They fought for the health of our families and voted against the interests of Big Polluters. Thanks to President Obama and our environmental champions in Congress fought off the seemingly endless parade of attacks on our environmental protections from the Republican-led Congress.

The 2016 Scorecard is being released at a time when attacks on the environment are already coming fast and furious from both the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress.  While the attacks contained in the 2016 Scorecard were largely prevented from becoming law thanks to opposition in the Senate and President Obama’s veto pen, those attacks serve as a preview of what’s at stake now that polluters have an ally in the White House who can be expected to sign these anti-environmental pieces of legislation should they reach his desk.  Indeed, both houses of Congress have already passed a resolution eliminating the Stream Protection Rule using the radical Congressional Review Act (CRA) legislative tool, and the House has passed a similar measure voiding the Bureau of Land Management’s Methane and Waste Reduction Rule—both of which are the subject of votes in the 2016 Scorecard.

In Maryland, seven House members and both Senators earned a score of 80 percent or greater on the 2015 Scorecard. The average House score in 2016 for Maryland was 85.25 percent and the average Senate score was 97 percent.

“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,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “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 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, visit http://scorecard.lcv.org.