League of Conservation Voters: 112th Congress Most Hostile to the Environment in 40 Years

One of the themes that I revisit through these blog posts is the manner in which clean water, clean air, and living in a sound environment have become politicized. What we Americans have valued in common has been transformed into a liberal-conservative conflict, with the moneyed interests largely supporting GOP candidates and representatives. While they also have Democratic politicians in their pockets—you only have to look at Democrats like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin to see how energy dollars pay for the votes of Democrats—the issue of the environment too often falls along a divide between the Democratic Party and the Grand Old Party.

            This news from the League of Conservation Voters goes to show just how far we have drifted into being a country that has a government that does not serve its citizens. The League judged this last Congress as the one most hostile to the environment in the last 40 years. The environmental organization was particularly scathing in its comments about the GOP controlled House, which systematically blocked advances on climate change legislation.

            Some of the legislation that the report discussed is the stuff that only schoolyard bullies would dream up. H.R. 4078, the Red Tape and Small Business Job Creation Act, sponsored by Arizona representative Tim Griffin would halt all new public safeguards, no matter how much they are needed or how many people they might help, as long as unemployment remains above six percent. Never mind that high levels of unemployment look likely for several years to come or that much of what the GOP has been doing has kept unemployment at high levels for years already. The Stop the War on Coal Act would repeal the scientific finding by the EPA that greenhouse gasses endanger human health and the environment.

            The list goes on, Keystone tar sands oil, cleaning up the Gulf from the BP disaster, general conservation, genetically modified salmon, etc., etc. Besides a list of disasters, I see very little of a democratic process working when I see a report like this. Is public financing of political campaigns a remedy? We need to do something before too long, before our world becomes too warm and our lakes and rivers are once again treated like public dumping grounds and sewers.