Tom DeLay's Environmental Record

DeLay's scores from the League of Conservation Voters (www.lcv.org) over the past 10 years. 0% is the most anti-environmental score possible and 100% is the most pro-environmental score possible):

2002: 0% - (Texas' state average for the House of Representatives in 2002: 32%)

2001: 0%

2000: 0%

1999: 6%

1998: 0%

1997: 19%

1996: 8%

1995: 0%

1994: 4%

1993: 15%

Tom DeLay's 10-year average, 1993-2002: 5.2%

DeLay's 2003, 2002 & 2001Environmental Record

Like the LCV's Environmental Scorecard, The Sierra Club Votewatch tracks legislation that impacts the environment. So far in 2003, Tom DeLay has voted against the environment 100% of the time. The Sierra Club reports that:

In 2003, DeLay voted Against the Environment on the following issues:

• Stopping the Land Grab of America’s Wild Places - voted in favor of Bush’s ‘disclosure rule,’ which allows the government to give away public lands to private interests.
• Protecting Roadless National Forest Areas - opposed the Roadless Rule thereby failing to adequately protect 58.5 million acres of National Forest. He voted in favor of the Bush administration’s policy, gutting one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in recent history.
• Protecting Yellowstone from Pollution - voted against a Congressional plan to reduce air pollution, protect human health and preserve wildlife and their habitat in our first National Park. This was to be accomplished by phasing out snowmobile use, which is incredibly polluting.
• U.S. funding for United Nations - voted in support of Bush to eliminate U.S. funding for United Nations efforts to help control population through education and other humane practices.

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In 2002, DeLay voted against the environment on the following issues:

• Farm Conservation I and II - voted twice against caps on federal subsidies to large agribusiness entities. Caps on these subsidies would have meant more money for family farms and conservation on farms and ranchlands, protecting clean water, open space and wildlife habitat.
  
• Defense Environmental Exemptions - voted in favor of exempting the Department of Defense from critical environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Superfund, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and several others.
  
• California Coastal Drilling - voted against a bill that would block drilling on 36 offshore oil leases in southern California.
  
• Klamath Farming Leases - voted against a bill to reduce increased environmental degradation from harmful agricultural practices in the Klamath River Basin, one of our nation’s most important migratory bird habitats.
  
• Yucca Mountain - voted in support of Yucca Mountain as a single repository for burying nuclear waste. This site is problematic; a report by the General Accounting office identifies “293 significant unresolved technical issues” pertaining to the site, not to mention its proximity to the aquifer that provides drinking water for nearby communities.
  
• Right to Know - voted in favor of allowing corporations to withhold certain types of information from the public in the name of national security, potentially barring disclosure on environmental and health hazards, product defects, chemical spills and other things that the public has the right to know about.
  
• Trade & Environment - voted in support of the Trade Act of 2002, which according to the environmental community fails to promote environmental progress alongside economic development and trade partner cooperation.
  

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In 2001, DeLay voted against the environment on the following issues:

• Arctic-2000 Acres and Arctic Drilling - voted in favor of drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most biologically valuable areas on the continent. Projected oil yields would only fuel U.S demands for a few months. DeLay also continues to oppose increased fuel efficiency standards, which would save far more oil than drilling in the refuge could ever produce.
  
• Mining Regulations - opposed an amendment that would update antiquated mining relegations and protect the environment and human health from the harmful effects of toxic pollution.
  
• National Monument Drilling - voted to open protected areas of beauty, ecological integrity and historical significance to oil, coal and gas exploitation.
  
• Gulf Drilling - voted against a House amendment that would suspend oil and gas drilling off the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling in this area irreparably damages Florida’s unique and fragile coastal ecosystem.
  
• Great Lakes Drilling - voted to allow more oil drilling in the Great lakes, a move which threatens to contaminate drinking water in eight states and destroys local wetlands.
  
• Farm Conservation - voted against federal funding that would aid farmers and ranchers preserve open space on private lands.
  
• Arsenic - voted against upholding new standards that decreased the amount of arsenic legally allowed in drinking water, placing millions of lives at risk. The National Academy of Sciences reports that arsenic in drinking water can cause birth defects, lung, skin and bladder cancer and harm the nervous system, heart and blood vessels.
  
• EPA enforcement - voted to cut EPA funding and staff, thereby decreasing the agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
  
• Fuel Economy DeLay favored industry instead of the American public by voting against increasing fuel efficiency in SUV’s to 27.5 mpg (only a 7mpg increase from the current 20.7 mpg) by 2007.
  
• Energy Policy - supported Bush’s Energy Policy. The policy calls for increased fossil fuel development and production while impeding the progress of appropriate technologies and renewable energy.
  
• Energy Efficiency - voted against amendments to provide federal funding for sustainable energy infrastructure development - instead he favored keeping the proposed $52 million in fossil fuel development projects.
  
• Family Planning - voted to uphold Bush’s aid cuts to international family planning organizations.
  
• Fast Track - voted in support of a policy that fails to protect human health and the environment from international organizations operating under trade agreements.
  

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