Shays: 46% Against the Environment

by: DanF

Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:40:29 AM EDT

Shays: 54%.      

When pretending to be bipartisan, Shays brings up his alleged support of Congressional environmental conservation.

In reality, Shays is a supporter of offshore drilling.  He has waffled on his opposition to Broadwater.  He is a strong supporter and CT co-chair of a Republican presidential campaign whose vice-presidential candidate doesn't even believe that global warming is man-made.

And this year, Shays voted for a motion which undermined clean energy tax credits.  He voted to gut renewable energy from H.R. 6899 and open additional areas to oil drilling.  He voted to undermine green building standards.  He was absent during votes to protect the National Landscape Conservation System.  He voted against a motion reversing cuts to funding of conservation programs.

Meanwhile, Jim Himes has led non-profit green building initiatives and has an innovative plan to support green building across the country.  You can read about it here: http://www.himesforcongress.co...

Sadly, a few months ago, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters fell for Shays' charades and endorsed him over Himes this time around.  When the CT Sierra Club held its annual dinner at my school, I asked the president about this.  He said that although he thought Jim was a fine candidate, Shays should be rewarded for facing pressure from his own party.  He added that Jim's record and position were not taken into account in making the decision.  Doesn't it seem counter-productive for environmental advocacy groups to endorse a fake environmentalist over a real one?  I bet both organizations are sure regretting their endorsements now.

2. Undermining Clean Energy Tax Credits / 3. Clean Energy Tax Credits ii
H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008, as reported by the Ways and
Means Committee, extended the tax credits for wind and other renewable energies by one year,
while also renewing several important research and development tax credits, and renewing the
commercial and residential energy efficiency tax credits. This package was supported by over two
hundred business, environmental, and utility groups. The tax credits would be paid for by delay-
ing new interest allocation rules for multinational companies and changing the rules for taxing
deferred compensation. Opponents maintained that loopholes closed by the bill amounted to tax
increases. Representative McCrery (R-LA) sought to send the bill back to Committee with instruc-
tions that it be reported back without the offsets. Because conservative House Democrats would
have resisted such a bill, this move was tantamount to killing the bill.
The motion to recommit was rejected 201-220 (House roll call vote 343) on May 21. NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.

5. GUTTING RENEWABLE ENERGY
As energy costs spiraled upward and American consumers suffered at the pump, anti-environment
forces in Congress monopolized legislative proceedings to push a pro-drilling agenda. In Septem-
ber, House Democrats introduced a proposal that combined conservation measures, renewable
energy investment, and increased drilling into a single comprehensive energy package.
The Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act of 2008 included
a renewable electricity standard mandating that 15% of American electricity come from clean
energy sources by 2020. H.R. 6899 would extend tax credits to the renewable energy industry,
institute energy efficiency standards for buildings, and repeal billions of dollars in tax subsidies to
oil companies.
During consideration of H.R. 6899, Representative John Peterson (R-PA) offered a motion to
strike the renewable electricity standard and open up additional federal lands and waters to drill-
ing. The motion would also have provided federal subsidies for the development of polluting fossil
fuels such as oil shale.  
On September 16, the House defeated the motion by a 191-226 vote (House roll call vote 598).
NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.

6. GREEN BUILDING STANDARDS
Buildings consume about 40 percent of the total energy used in the United States and are respon-
sible for about 40 percent of all U.S. carbon dioxide pollution. The initial building design and con-
struction provides the best and most cost-effective opportunity to deploy energy-efficient features
that will last for the lifetime of the building. The HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization
Act of 2007, H.R. 2534, required federally funded housing developments and community revital-
izations for the low income and elderly to meet residential and commercial buildings criteria for
efficiency.
Representative Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) offered an amendment that would have weak-
ened these provisions by making them voluntary, deleted the definition of specific green criteria
and goals, and allowed the Administration to choose any private industry-backed standard for
voluntary compliance regardless of any positive public health or environmental benefit.
On January 17, the House defeated the amendment by a vote of 169-240 (House roll call vote
16). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.

8 & 9. Grazing and National Landscape Conservation System
Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt created the National Landscape Conservation Sys-
tem in June 2000 to recognize the "crown jewels" of public lands administered by the Bureau of
Land Management. The 26 million-acre system comprises over 800 individual units; including
the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, the Upper Missouri River Breaks
National Monument in Montana, and the Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California.
H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act, provides permanent statutory rec-
ognition for a system that was created administratively eight years ago to "conserve, protect, and
restore these nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and sci-
entific values for the benefit of current and future generations."
During consideration of H.R. 2016, Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) introduced an amend-
ment that seeks to enshrine current grazing operations on units within the National Landscape
Conservation System regardless of the damage being caused to the land.  
On April 9, the House approved the amendment by a 214-207 vote (House roll call vote 172).
NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. On the same day, the House voted 278-140 to pass H.R. 2016
by a 278-140 vote (House roll call vote 174). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.

11. Environmental Funding
The Congressional budget process begins once the President's annual budget is submitted in Feb-
ruary. At that time, Congress begins to develop its own budget plan that reflects its spending
priorities. The federal budget resolution sets funding levels for the next fiscal year and sets forth
budget totals for the next five years.
Because the concurrent budget resolution determines the spending authority of House appro-
priation committees that then subdivide the amount among its subcommittees, the federal budget
is a powerful tool for establishing national policy priorities. Programs that protect our air, water,
climate, wildlife, parks, forest, refuges and other public lands fall under the Interior Environment
Appropriation Committee.
S. Con Res 70 marks the second year of reversing cuts to many important environmental and
conservation programs that occurred for nearly a decade. The budget agreement provides $38.6
billion in FY 2009 discretionary spending for environment and natural resources programs. This
funding level is $1.9 billion above the FY 2008 enacted level, and $3.9 billion over the President's
FY 2009 request. The resolution also provides $7.7 billion for energy programs in FY 2009, which
is $2.8 billion above the President's proposal. This is a major improvement over the years of declin-
ing funding for important public lands and natural resource management.
On June 5, the House passed S. Con. Res. 70 by a vote of 214-210, (House roll call vote 382)
setting the congressional budget for fiscal year 2009. YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.