The 112th House of Representatives Is the Most Anti-Environment House in American History
"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." -- Rep. Michele Bachmann[1]
Last week, the Minority Staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce released a document entitled "The Anti-Environment Record of the U.S. House of Representatives 112th Congress, 1st Session," which was prepared at the request of ranking minority members Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.).
"The House of Representatives in 2011 is the most anti-environment House in the history of Congress," asserts the report, which found that more than a fifth of the 770 legislative roll call votes were votes to weaken environmental protection. And being green generally split the body across party lines. During those calls, 94 percent of Republicans voted for the anti-environment position, while 86 percent of Democrats voted for the pro-environment position.[2]
"The House Republican assault on the environment has been reckless and relentless," said Rep. Waxman, Ranking Minority Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, in a statement. "In bill after bill, for one industry after another, the House has been voting to roll back environmental laws and endanger public health."[3]
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Reynard is a Justmeans staff writer for Sustainable Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility. A former media executive with 15 years experience in the private and non-profit sectors, Reynard is the co-founder of MomenTech, a New York-based experimental production studio that explores transnational progressivism, neo-nomadism, post-humanism and futurism. He is also author of the blog 13.7 Billion Years, covering cosmology, biodiversity, animal welfare, conservation and ethical consumption. He is currently developing the Underground Desert Living Unit (UDLU), a sustainable single-family dwelling envisioned as a potential adaptation response to the future loss of human habitat due to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Reynard is also a contributing author of "Biomes and Ecosystems," a comprehensive reference encyclopedia of the Earth's key biological and geographic classifications, to be published by Salem Press in 2013.
