Six of Maryland's congressional representatives and both of Maryland's senators voted for the environment 100% of the time in the past year and a half, according to the annual Congressional Scorecard on major environmental issues released today by Environment Maryland.
Environment Maryland is releasing its annual scorecard as part of its campaign to pass legislation in Congress to repower our economy with clean energy, cut global warming pollution, and restore our waterways such as the Chesapeake Bay.
"Maryland's congressional delegation has consistently voted to put the environment ahead of special interests. In the past year and a half, they successfully fought to invest an unprecedented $80 billion in clean energy and to protect more than two million acres of wilderness," said Environment Maryland Field Associate Mike Sherling. "These scorecards are an important tool to educate the public about the voting records of their elected officials and to honor public officials like these that have a record of putting the environment first."
Representatives Chris Van Hollen, John Sarbanes, Elijah Cummings, Donna Edwards, Dutch Ruppersburger, and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski received 100 percent scores.
"Protecting the environment and investing in clean, renewable energy are critical to ensuring our nation's future success, and we are working hard to achieve those goals," said Congressman Van Hollen (D-MD). "I want to applaud Environment Maryland for their work in holding public officials accountable on this important issue."
Environment Maryland scored 15 votes in the House ranging from a bill to repower America with clean energy and to begin to reduce global warming pollution to a bill to preserve our open spaces across the country to bills investing $80 billion in clean energy to recover our economy and to bills reducing our dependence on oil by promoting public transportation.
"It is an honor to be recognized by Environment Maryland for my work in Congress on environmental issues," said Congressman Sarbanes (D-MD). "As a longtime champion of the Chesapeake Bay, it has been a privilege to work on initiatives that benefit the environment including energy conservation, renewable alternatives and outdoor education."
One of the bills scored, the No Child Left Inside Act, was authored by Representative Sarbanes and passed the House of Representatives. The bill encourages outdoor learning and environmental education.
"We applaud our representatives and senators for being heros for the environment. They know what it takes to protect the environment and improve the quality of life for people in Maryland. Their environmental leadership and their 100 percent scores show this." said Sherling.
Rep. Cummings has introduced a bill to develop a new plan of action for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and for reducing watershed pollution in the surrounding states. Congressman Cummings (D-MD) spoke earlier this year about the importance of the bay and its restoration. "We understand with great clarity what is harming the Bay," said Cummings.
"We know the sources of the nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediments that flow into the Bay and we understand how they destroy the Bay's fragile ecosystem. We also know that controlling and reducing these pollutants is absolutely essential if the Bay is to thrive again."
With the help of Maryland's congressional champions, the 111th Congress is making progress in several key areas. Already, the House of Representatives has passed a bill to begin to repower the country with clean energy and limit global warming pollution.
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The scorecard and key to the votes scored within can be viewed online at https://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/other-issues/other-issues/environment-america-congressional-scorecard-2009. Environment Maryland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental advocacy organization.
