Virginia Republicans Flunk Latest Congressional Conservation Scorecard

The latest Congressional scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters flunks every single Virginia Republican, including House members like Scott Rigell, Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf who'll be trying to sell themselves as moderate in November. Committed opponents of clean air & water, public health, and wildlife like Eric Cantor, Randy Forbes, Bob Goodlatte, Morgan Griffith and Robert Hurt all scored in the teens. Meanwhile, Virginia House Democrats Gerry Connolly, Jim Moran and Bobby Scott all scored 100%.

What drew the LCV's ire? Every single Republican voted for the House Republican budget resolution to gut the Clean Air Act & Clean Water Act, to protect billions in tax giveaways for oil corporations that banked $137 billion in profits in 2011, and to weaken offshore drilling safety rules even as they pushed to bring oil drilling to the Virginia coast. 

On the Senate side, both Sen. Mark Warner and Jim Webb scored 100%, though given that both support oil drilling off Virginia's shores and Webb has opposed clean air regulations, neither is perfect on conservation.

Here's the Virginia House scorecard:

Rep. Perriello Evokes Dr. King

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one it is right."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That was today's quote in my Living Green Page-a-Day calendar. Funny coincidence since it reminded me of something I'd just read this morning. It was Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) talking about his vote in favor of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act:

“If I have to choose between national security and reelection, for me that’s easy. It’s national security,” he told POLITICO. “I can deal with losing reelection. I can’t deal with being a coward.”

So if Virginia Congressmen like Glenn Nye, Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf weren't voting conscience when they voted against ACES, you have to ask -- were they voting cowardice or expediency?

New Global Warming Report Due Today

UPDATE: The report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program is out, you can read it at GlobalChange.gov.

A major new report on the climate crisis is due today. We got some hints at some the current trends and worst-case scenarios from a January draft:

-- climate change is already affecting water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems and health, differing from region to region and expected to grow if the climate changes as projected;

-- agriculture is one sector most able to adapt to climate change, but increased temperature, pests, diseases and weather extremes will challenge crops and livestock production;

-- threats to human health will increase, especially those related to heat stress, water-borne diseases, reduced air quality, extreme weather events and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents;

-- sea-level rise and storm surge place many U.S. coastal regions at increasing risk of erosion and flooding, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Pacific islands and parts of Alaska; energy and transportation infrastructure in coastal cities is very likely to be adversely affected.

The report will put new pressure on Virginia members of Congress like Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf, who've wavered on support for clean energy & climate legislation. How long will they ignore the threats to Virginia's coastline and to Virginians themselves?