February 27, 2018 03:49 PM UTC

Gardner, Lamborn get zeros on environmental group's scorecard

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• by: Jason Salzman

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), a national environmental group with progressive leanings, released its annual congressional scorecard today, spotlighting its ratings of Colorado’s congressional delegation, which ranged from 100 percent (Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis) to 0 percent (Republican Sen. Cory Gardner and U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn).

The scores were based on 35 House votes and 19 Senate votes votes during the last session of Congress, when Republicans controlled both chambers.

“We knew Senator Cory Gardner was bad on environmental and public health issues, but looking at his entire voting record from 2017, we now know he couldn’t be any worse. We deserve lawmakers who represent the needs of their constituents, not President Trump’s extreme anti-environmental agenda and his attacks on Colorado’s air, water, land, and wildlife,” said Maria Handley, Acting Director of Conservation Colorado, in a statement. “We need our representatives in Congress to fight for Colorado values.”

U.S. House votes included measures to undermine EPA enforcement of environmental laws, to cut spending on environmental protection, and to block wildlife protections in Alaska.

Republican U.S. Representatives Ken Buck and  Mike Coffman and Scott Tipton earned six percent scores.

Democrat Diana DeGette got 89 percent.

In the senate, the scorecard included confirmation votes for anti-environmental nominees (e.g., Attorney General Jeff Sessions, climate-change denier Scott Pruitt for EPA), the vote on the tax bill, which allowed drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and votes other environmental measures.

Colorado’s Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet scored 84 percent.

Calls to Gardner’s and Lamborn’s office were not immediately returned. Any response will be added.

“There’s no getting around it: at the federal level, 2017 was an unmitigated disaster for the environment and public health with President Trump and his Cabinet quickly becoming the most anti-environmental administration in our nation’s history,” according to the report.

President Donald Trump also got a failing grade on the scorecard.

The report stated that “LCV gave Trump an ‘F’ for his first-year report card, which does not come close to capturing either the breadth or depth of his administration’s assault on environmental protections and the harm it is causing communities across the country – all to sell out our future to wealthy corporate polluters.”