Mark Longabaugh, senior vice president for political affairs at LCV, told Muckraker, via grist.org, that:
Obama is “by far one of the most compelling and knowledgeable politicians on the environment I’ve ever sat in a room with… (snip) I’ve been playing national politics for more than 20 years and I quite literally can’t remember one person I’ve met — even on a national level — who was more in command of facts, more eloquent, and more passionate on these issues than Sen. Obama.”
In 2003, Obama was one of six state senators to receive a 100 Percent Environmental Voting Record Award from the Illinois Environmental Council. In 2004, Obama was Environmental Champion, one of 18 sitting and prospective members of Congress to receive the award.
This year, Obama has won some key environmentalists endorsements, as stated here.
He’s been endorsed by the Sierra Club and The League of Conservation Voters. He’s been endorsed by Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner on the Environment, and other notable environmentalist like John Kerry.
But in order to truly understand the depth for which Obama has fought for the environment, you need to see some background context.
Bush and the Republicans created a falsely named Clear Skies Act which changed the Clinton bill entitled the “Clean Air Act” while Obama was in the Illinois legislature. However, Obama introduced a bill that would have blocked the Clear Skies Act in Illinois. This is important because Chicago has the highest asthma rate and highest death rate due to asthma than anywhere across this nation.
According to Urbaszewski, Obama “made an aggressive move to stem the tide of pollution from Illinois’ coal plants — which produce nearly 50 percent of the state’s electricity — by introducing a bill that would in effect block the Bush administration’s rollback of the Clean Air Act’s new-source review rules from being carried out in his state.”
There were more accolades for Obama’s environmental policies while he was a state legislature. From grist.org, once again:
Obama has taken on energy matters in Illinois as aggressively as air-quality protection. As state senator, he is cosponsoring a pending measure that would require 10 percent of the electricity generated in the state to come from renewable sources by 2012, and he supports another pending bill that would tighten energy-efficiency codes in residential and commercial buildings.
Those who claim that Obama is inexperienced need to check out Obama’s complete record while he represented Illinois. Because all of us know that our country utilizes a system where Federal and State laws are created and designed to balance out the general well-being of the country while keeping in mind the general well-being of the individual states.
Clearly on the environment, Obama was fighting to protect Illinois citizens from pollution, and Bush’s Clean Air Act was used to allow more toxins into the food, water, and air that Illinois citizens relied upon. When the Federal government makes such an abusive, unhealthy law, then it’s not only up to each state to enact better, tougher laws within their states, but it’s mandatory that they do so immediately!
Obama did this.
He did this and more.
He has pledged to endorse legislation that would require 20 percent of America’s power supply to be generated by renewable sources by 2020, as well as regulations that would boost Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 40 miles per gallon for cars.*Obama has fought for tougher standards on diesel engines,
*waged battles against urban sprawl and the destruction of Illinois’ wetlands,
*mobilized residents in Chicago’s lowest-income neighborhoods to block toxic dumping in their communities.
Wheras, McCain did some super amazing somersaults that would challenge an Olympic gymnast in order to accommodate his lobbyists and the oil execs in the energy industry, Obama has performed major gymnastic feats to avoid accepting lobbyists influences and their arm twisting.
Via grist.org (again):
“Illinois is a heavily industrial state, and a tough place for environmentalists and other progressives,” said Darin. “Illinois is a state that has no limits on campaign financing, meaning the special interests are well entrenched.” But Obama has never capitulated, said Darin, and for most of his time in the state senate, he has been in the minority, arguing against the political grain with surprising success.
Yet, there’s even more!
The following is a list of the way he voted on the environment while serving in the U.S. Senate from How Stuff works.com:
Environment:
* Obama voted in favor of the Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 (H.R. 6) [source: U.S. Senate]. It passed the Senate vote. (Obama voted for another version of H.R. 6, the successful Energy Policy Act of 2005, which offered incentives for companies that lowered dependency on oil, improved conservation and reduced pollution [source: The Washington Post]).* He did not vote on the failed amendment in 2007, which would have limited the tax credit for properties providing wind power (S. Amendment 3500) [source: U.S. Senate].
* In 2007, he voted against maintaining current budget levels for tax credits for electricity produced by renewable resources through 2012 (S. Amdt. 577) [source: U.S. Senate].
* He voted in favor of the failed amendment in 2005 (S. Amdt. 902) that sought to improve automotive fuel efficiency [source: U.S. Senate].
You can find a fairly complete (and somewhat simplified) version of Obama’s environmental record on On the Issues.org as well.
Thus, you can see that Obama has a clear and strong record on environmental concerns. This is a huge contrast from John McCain’s false facade on the same issue.
UPDATE:
Thank you silver blue for correcting and adding valuable information to this diary.
one clarification (6.00 / 2)
I think here where you sayBush and the Republicans created a falsely named bill entitled the “Clean Air Act” while Obama was in the Illinois legislature.
you probably mean the Clear Skies Act, which would have significantly rolled back some provisions of the long-standing Clean Air Act.
In addition to his action while he was in the Illinois Senate, Obama also cast one of the nine votes in committee to block the bill (S.131 of the 109th Congress, sponsored by global warming denier James Inhofe).
environment. However, I did not like that he initially backed liquid coal, which is a horribly bad idea. Later he backed off on it. I didn’t know about his work on the environment in the Illinois legislature, so that is most impressive.
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p>Thanks for this series, Cougar. It is most helpful.
I think here where you say
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p>you probably mean the Clear Skies Act, which would have significantly rolled back some provisions of the long-standing Clean Air Act.
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p>In addition to his action while he was in the Illinois Senate, Obama also cast one of the nine votes in committee to block the bill (S.131 of the 109th Congress, sponsored by global warming denier James Inhofe).