John McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and His Environmental Record

May 13, 2008 -- John McCain says that on environmental issues we must "act quickly." But a look at his record tells a very different story. In recent years when McCain had the chance to act to help the environment, he instead cast votes in the Senate against important environmental protections or skipped critical votes on important environmental initiatives and policies like stopping tax giveaways to big oil, increasing CAFE standards, or preventing waters off the U.S. coast from opening up for oil drilling.

McCain's record has actually lead environmental watchdog groups to give him dismally low ratings. And just yesterday, an adviser reiterated McCain would not support key global warming legislation in the Senate that mirrors the very proposals he has made while campaigning. [johnmccain.com, accessed 5/12/08]

McCain may call himself an environmentalist, but once again his record just doesn't match his rhetoric on the campaign trail.

2008: McCain Received 24 Percent Lifetime Rating From LCV. "This year, the League of Conservation Voters, with input from 18 other environmental-advocacy groups, gave Clinton, 60, a lifetime Senate rating of 87 percent and Obama, 46, an 86 percent rating. McCain got 24 percent." [Bloomberg, 3/21/2008]

2007: McCain Missed All 15 Key Environmental Votes According To The League Of Conservation Voters. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) scored 0 percent in 2007 (24 percent lifetime) due to missing all 15 votes scored, including the key vote on repealing tax giveaways to big oil - a measure that failed by only one vote. [http://www.lcv.org/newsroom/press-releases/lcv-releases-2007-national-environmental-scorecard.html]

2007: McCain Skipped Vote On Energy Legislation That Increased CAFE Standards. McCain missed a vote on passage of the energy bill that would overhaul national energy policies and increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. [2007 Senate Vote #226, 6/21/2007]

2006: McCain's Vote To Open Up Gulf Of Mexico For Drilling And His Support For Oil Subsidies Have Put Him At Odds With Environmentalists. "McCain antagonized environmentalists by voting in 2006 to open 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling. In addition, they have clashed over McCain's support for multibillion-dollar subsidies to the nuclear industry." [Bloomberg, 3/21/2008]

McCain Refuses To Support Global Warming Legislation in the Senate. McCain Adviser Holtz-Eakin Said McCain Would Not Endorse Lieberman-Warner Climate Change Legislation Until Stronger Provisions For Nuclear Power Were Included. When asked on a conference call if McCain supported The Lieberman-Warner climate change legislation, McCain Senior Policy Adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin responded, "Uh, he has not yet uh endorsed Lieberman Warner bill. He thinks that it's certainly a great start. He would like to see it be stronger in it's uh provisions for nuclear power and offsets. Uh, Obviously other pieces of it are very similar to legislation that he's uh supported in the past. So uh he'll monitor the evolution of the bill as it comes towards any consideration in the senate." [Conference Call Discussing John McCain's Remarks On Climate Change, 5/12/2008]

McCain Is Not Listed As A Co-Sponsor On Latest Climate Change Legislation Proposed By Lieberman-Warner. "A Senate blueprint for tackling global warming would require power plants and vehicles to reduce their greenhouse gases by 70 percent… The proposal Thursday by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, was seen as a compromise that could get the 60 votes needed to pass, perhaps next year." According to Congressional Quarterly, "McCain has sponsored cap-and-trade legislation in the past but has not signed on to the current Senate bill." [AP, 10/18/07; thomas.loc.gov America's Climate Security Act Of 2007 Cosponsors, accessed on 5/11/2008; Congressional Quarterly Today, 4/16/2008]

Legislation Is Almost Identical To The Plan McCain Proposed To Cap Greenhouse Gas Emissions. "The plan would set a mandatory cap on greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, from electric power, manufacturing and transportation sources. Its goal to cut annual emissions by 15 percent in 2020 and 70 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels." McCain's plan would cap GHG emissions at 60 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. [AP, 10/18/07; AP, 2/12/2008]

Legislation Has Support From Key Democrats And Environmental Groups. "The Lieberman-Warner proposal won the endorsement of the committee chairman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has proposed cutting emissions by as much as 80 percent by mid-century… The measure attracted broad support among environmentalists, although some said it did not go far enough and would not achieve reduction levels needed to stabilize greenhouses gases in the atmosphere to avoid the serious climate impact." [AP, 10/18/07]

Source: DNC

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