WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 – Sen. Bernie Sanders received a perfect score today from the League of Conservation Voters for his environmental voting record in 2015. Sanders has a 95 percent lifetime score.
“On climate stuff he’s been the most aggressive voice in the Senate,” noted environmentalist and co-founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben said of Sanders.
Among his many environmental accomplishments in 2015, Sanders introduced the Keep it in the Ground Act, which would ban future fossil fuel extraction on federal land, the Low Income Solar Act, a carbon tax, legislation to repeal all fossil fuel subsidies, a comprehensive renewable energy tax incentives package and the Residential Energy Savings Act to provide the upfront costs for residential energy efficiency.
Sanders voted against the Keystone XL pipeline, lifting the crude oil export ban, expediting liquefied natural gas exports and “fast track” trade promotion authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would give corporations the right to sue the U.S. for unlimited cash compensation for any environmental law that a corporation alleges will reduce its profits. He also voted to close the Halliburton loophole, which allows fracking to be unregulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and to reauthorize the Land and Wildlife Conservation Fund.
To see Sanders’ 2015 National Environmental Scorecard, click here.