Michigan representatives in Congress get mixed reviews in latest environmental scorecard

The Ann Arbor-based Michigan League of Conservation Voters has joined the national LCV in releasing a new environmental scorecard, rating each of Michigan's representatives in Congress on how they voted on environmental, public health and energy issues in 2010.

The report shows both of Michigan's U.S. senators — Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin — scored a perfect 100 percent. So did five Democrats in the House: U.S. Reps. Dale Kildee, Gary Peters, Bart Stupak, John Conyers and Sander Levin.

U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, scored 90 percent in the League of Conservation Voters' latest environmental scorecard.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, whose district includes Ann Arbor, scored 90 percent. He lost points for missing a vote on legislation that called for adopting national policies to prevent ocean acidification, a phenomenon that occurs when carbon dioxide combines with seawater to from carbonic acid.

The average House score among Michigan's 15 representatives was 56 percent. Four of Michigan's House members — all Republicans — earned an abysmal 0 percent, the LCV points out.

View the full report here.

LCV leaders note the scorecard is being released amid one of the greatest attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency's budget in 30 years. There have been assaults on the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and wildlife protections in Congress.

“We applaud those members of the Michigan delegation who fought in 2010 to protect public health, the environment, and to reduce our nation’s dangerous dependence on oil," Ryan Werder, the Michigan LCV's political director, said in a statement.

Werder said the LCV is particularly disappointed with U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican with a lifetime average of 37 percent. Upton's glaring zero on the 2010 scorecard signals an abrupt turn from his more moderate positions of the past, Werder said.

LCV leaders said unfortunately, the most important votes of 2010 were the ones that didn’t happen. The Senate failed to begin debate on a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill, and failed at responding to the greatest environmental disaster in the nation’s history — the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said LCV President Gene Karpinski.

The LCV also has been rating Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, now in his second month on the job. Click here for the group's "How Green Is Your Governor?" tracker tool.