Contact: Anthony Campisi
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Conservation Voters of PA hails election of environmental champion Josh Shapiro as next governor
Harrisburg, PA – Today, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVPA) released the Pennsylvania delegation’s scores for the League of Conservation Voters’ 2022 National Environmental Scorecard highlighting how some members chose to champion the environment and protect our democracy, while others failed to do so. Since 1970, LCV’s Scorecard has been the primary yardstick for evaluating the environmental records of members of Congress. It is available for download in English here, in Spanish here, and online in both languages at scorecard.lcv.org.
2022 was the best year ever for climate action in Congress with the passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act that invests roughly $369 billion in advancing clean energy, creating good jobs, and fighting climate change and environmental injustice. This clean energy plan was finalized against a backdrop of devastating and costly climate-fueled extreme weather and oil and gas companies’ exploitation of Putin’s unlawful war on Ukraine. Every Democrat in our state’s delegation came together to make the country’s first transformational climate law a reality. Unfortunately, not a single Republican voted for this popular, affordable clean energy plan.
In stark contrast to previous sessions, 2022 was an exceptionally productive year for Congress. With the pro-environment-led House and Senate, Congress showed up and seized the opportunity to pass historic climate and clean energy policy. Yet some in Pennsylvania’s delegation ignored their own constituents, voting against new clean energy jobs and voting rights.
“We are proud to have representatives that will fight for our future,” said Molly Parzen, CVPA’s Executive Director. “Rep. Brendan Boyle, Rep. Dwight Evans, and Rep. Matt Cartwright have stood up for our Pennsylvania’’s health and environment. But legislators including Sen. Pat Toomey, Rep. Fred Keller, and Rep. Dan Meuser continue to side with corporate polluters over Pennsylvania’s health and environment and refuse to protect our right to vote at a critical moment for the country. We know the work is still not done. The future of our planet and our democracy are at stake. We must hold leaders like Rep. Scott Perry accountable and we must build on Congress’ tremendous success and ensure we implement and invest these dollars so it benefits every community.”
“What a year of historic progress! In 2022, pro-environment majorities in the House and Senate showed the world what’s possible when leaders are committed to delivering the action on climate, clean energy, jobs and justice voters demand,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld. “In a year that saw more suffering from the climate crisis and more pain at the pump as oil and gas companies raised energy costs, environmental champions in Congress took transformative climate action to begin to insulate the U.S. from volatile fossil fuel prices and build an affordable clean energy future. This year, we are all in to support the swift, effective, and equitable implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, work with Pennsylvania’s champions in Congress to continue to fight for popular action on climate and environmental justice and block attempts to roll back environmental safeguards, and support the Biden-Harris administration’s finalization of critical health and climate protections across the agencies.”
The 2022 Scorecard includes dozens of votes on other impactful climate and environmental bills, as well as a number of votes in both chambers on legislation that would strengthen democracy including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the DISCLOSE Act. To safeguard equity, LCV’s 2022 Scorecard included votes in both chambers to protect same-sex and interracial marriages as well as reproductive rights.
For the first time this year, the Scorecard includes a new section highlighting the high-scoring leadership of the Tri-Caucus. Leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) scored an average 98% on the 2022 Scorecard and were instrumental to passing bold, pro-environment legislation, championed strong pro-democracy policies, and worked to address environmental injustice.
The extreme storms and temperatures and catastrophic floods that continue to affect our communities this year required an all-of-government approach that Congress helped deliver, despite relentless attempts by the fossil fuel industry and other entrenched interests to put their profits over Pennsylvanians.
The 2022 Scorecard includes 23 votes in the Senate and 19 votes in the House, with the vote on the IRA counting twice in both chambers.
The full delegation’s scores for 2022 are:
- Senator Bob Casey - 96%
- Senator Pat Toomey - 0%
- Representative Brian Fitzpatrick - 53%
- Representative Brendan Boyle - 100%
- Representative Dwight Evans - 100%
- Representative Madeleine Dean - 95%
- Representative Mary Gay Scanlon - 95%
- Representative Chrissy Houlahan - 89%
- Representative Susan Wild - 95%
- Representative Matt Cartwright - 100%
- Representative Dan Meuser - 0%
- Representative Scott Perry - 0%
- Representative Lloyd Smucker - 5%
- Representative Fred Keller - 0%
- Representative John Joyce - 5%
- Representative Guy Reschenthaler - 5%
- Representative Glenn Thompson - 11%
- Representative Mike Kelly - 5%
- Representative Conor Lamb - 95%
- Representative Mike Doyle - 95%
LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from more than 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including energy, climate change, environmental justice, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, democracy, and spending for environmental programs. The votes included in the Scorecard presented members of Congress with a real choice and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. More information on individual votes and the Scorecard archive can be found at scorecard.lcv.org.
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