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OEC Action Fund Announces Scores from LCV’s 2015 National Environmental Scorecard

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Read the full scorecard in English here

Lea la tarjeta nacional de evaluaciones completa en Español aquí

The Ohio Environmental Council  Action Fund today unveiled scores for the Ohio Congressional delegation as part of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) 2015 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard includes the most votes ever scored and reveals the most anti-environmental Congress in our history. This is in direct contrast to President Obama who led the way on combating climate change and protecting our environment. The full 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 both bedrock environmental laws and more recent progress to protect our air, water, public lands and wildlife,” said Aryeh Alex, Director of the OEC Action Fund. “Despite last year being the hottest year on record, this Congress failed to take action on climate change and instead, put polluters’ agenda ahead of the health of Ohioans."

The 2015 Scorecard includes votes cast during the first session of the 114th Congress. Both chambers seemingly left no environmental issue untouched in 2015, with assaults on the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Antiquities Act. It includes 35 House votes, which ties the record for the most votes scored in the House for the fourth time in five years, and 25 votes in the Senate, the second highest number ever included.

The good news is that the Scorecard also includes many votes led by environmental allies who stood up for climate change science, clean energy, public lands, and wildlife protections, among other issues. Thanks to President Obama and environmental champions in Congress virtually all of the legislative attacks on the environment and public health were defeated.

In Ohio, four House members and one Senator earned a score of 80 percent or greater on the 2015 Scorecard, while eleven House members and one Senator earned an abysmal score of 10 percent or less.

“The 2015 Scorecard shows that the radical leadership in the House and Senate wasted no time pursuing big polluters’ agenda last year, and their environmental assault is well underway in 2016,” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski. “Fortunately, we have a growing force of environmental allies, including the president, as well as many in Congress, who are working tirelessly to combat climate change, transition to a clean energy economy and safeguard our air, water, lands and wildlife.”