When you vote in Congressional elections every two years, how
do you make your decision? Do you vote for the candidate with
the slickest TV ads or the one whose name you remember best from
previous campaigns?
If you are concerned about the environment, there is a better
way. Study the voting records of the current members of Congress.
Re-elect the ones that consistently vote for good environmental legislation. Help defeat those politicians that vote against the environment.
The easiest way to compare the environmental voting records of
your Representative and Senators with others is to use the NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SCORECARD scores tabulated by the League of Conservation Voters, or LCV. The League is a non- partisan organization dedicated to providing voters with information about how national politicians
vote on important environmental issues.
LCV's SCORECARD scores are compiled by tabulating the voting
records of each member of Congress during each legislative session.
A summary of the latest results, the 1990 SCORECARD, are included
in this section of Save The Planet. A score of 100 is
the highest conservation score, while politicians scoring 0 are
always voting in favor of the corporations that pollute and exploit our environment. According to LCV, "Even with all the hype of Earth Day, and the increasing number of politicians who call themselves 'green', fewer legislators voted with the environmental community in 1990 than did so in 1989." As you will see, scores are lower than last year, by a significant amount. (See 1990 STP version for 1989 scores)
The scores represent an average of the voting records on important bills in the 1990 Congress. These bills dealt with EPA cabinet level status, clean air, Everglades protection, plutonium production, energy conservation, water subsidies, global warming, wilderness,
and other important issues. (New members of Congress, elected
in November 1990, were not rated, a -- is shown for their scores.)
Study these scores. Compare the voting records of your state's lawmakers with those in other states. For a full report on how each Congressperson voted on each issue, send $5 to:
League of Conservation Voters
1150 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 201
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 785-8683
Ask them to send you a copy of the 1990 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL