California’s Congressional Delegation Given High Marks by Environmentalists

California’s congressional delegation received high ratings on an environmental issue “score card” released by a coalition of conservation groups, but vice presidential nominees Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen both earned low scores for their Senate votes on the environment.

The League of Conservation Voters, the political arm of leading environmental groups, on Thursday announced that California’s 45 members of Congress ranked 16th overall among the 50 states’ House delegations on votes on selected environmental measures in this congressional session. Their votes were 56% pro-environment on the issues, the league said.

The organization reported that Quayle, a Republican senator from Indiana, scored a low of 20%, which group Executive Director Jim Maddy interpreted to mean “he gets it wrong four times out of five when voting on issues affecting the environment.”

In Wednesday’s televised vice presidential debate, “I heard him say that he deserves a good grade on the environment and I showed up with his transcript,” Maddy said at a press conference.

Bentsen, a Texas Democrat, scored 40%, down from 50% in 1985-86. “I’d prefer to see his score go up a lot,” Maddy said.

The league based the rankings, which it has issued every two years since 1972, on what it considers to be the most important environmental measures that came before the 100th Congress and then recorded a pro- or anti-environmental vote for each member. They included proposals affecting clean air and water, ocean pollution, water development projects and endangered species, it said.

Congressional delegations from New England states scored the highest, with average scores of 79% for the House and 78% for the Senate. Topping the lists were Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine. The lowest environmental scores went to delegations from Wyoming and Idaho.

Four California congressmen scored a 94% pro-environment record--Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), Ronald Dellums (D-Oakland), Don Edwards (D-San Jose) and Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo). One Californian, Rep. Wally Herger (R-Chico), received a ranking of zero.

The league issued an endorsement in one of California’s congressional races. It backed Gary K. Hart, the Democratic candidate running against Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). Lagomarsino received 38% on the score card.

League Chairman Brent Blackwelder, of the Environmental Policy Institute, said that through the rankings the conservation groups hope “to hold members (of Congress) accountable” for their votes on the environment.

“This year the environment has emerged as the key issue in many states,” Maddy said. “Voters have begun to recognize that policies environmentalists develop have an effect.”