Group cites Harkin and Boswell as environmental champions

Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Leonard Boswell rated favorably in an environmental group's new report, while Sen. Chuck Grassley ranked a zero.

Environment Iowa's scorecard, released Wednesday, examined environmental votes taken between May 2007 and September 2009 to rate Iowa's congressional delegation.

Grassley, R-Iowa, was among 26 senators and 17 representatives deemed “natural disasters” for consistently voting against the environment, according to the national Environment America organization.

Beth Levine, Grassley's press secretary, said the group chose “partisan procedural votes” in looking at the stimulus bill and budget.

“Senator Grassley is the champion of renewable energy and has done more than anyone else in Congress to forward policies that not only benefit the environment but also benefit the Iowa economy by creating jobs,” Levine wrote in an e-mail.

Harkin and Boswell, both D-Iowa, were among 40 senators and 144 representatives called “environmental champions” for taking the pro-environment position on every vote that Environment America tracked for the 2009 Scorecard.

The group looked at seven votes in the Senate and 15 in the House, such as the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, a package of more than 160 bills that gave wilderness protections to 2 million acres of federal lands in nine states. Other bills promoted investments in public transit and energy efficiency.

Environment Iowa fellow Eric Nost noted that the scorecards can be a tool to educate Iowans about the voting records of elected officials.

Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, who represents Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, received a 93 percent rating, while Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, who represents Waterloo, Dubuque and the Quad Cities, earned an 80 percent score. Both included absences from votes that happened during the floods of 2008, when the congressmen were in Iowa.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, scored 40 percent for voting for six of the 15 measures that the scorecard tracked.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, fared second-worst in Iowa's congressional delegation, voting in favor of two of the 15 bills tracked by the group.