Rep.
Joe Barton
An Enemy of the Environment
In the last
five years, Congressman Barton has cast only three pro-environment
votes out of a possible 65. He was selected as Chair of the Committee
on Energy and Commerce in 2004, after receiving zero percent
on the National Environmental Scorecard in 2003 from the League
of Conservation Voters. The Earth Killer Award will be presented
in conjunction with the Cathedral of Hope’s observance
of Earth Day. Congressman Barton has been invited to attend in
order to receive the award in person, but he has not yet accepted
the invitation.
Rep. Joe Barton
has been representing the Sixth District of Texas (Waxahachie
area) in the United States House of Representatives since 1984.
In 2004, he was elected chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee,
which oversees environmental legislation. Rep. Barton has recently
made news with his vocal skepticism of global warming and for
being one of only 11 House members to vote against the Hurricane
Katrina Emergency Relief Bill.
As the leader
of this powerful committee, it is important to note that Joe
Barton has been touting his anti-environmental agenda for years.
Since 1989, Joe Barton has received over $2,600,000 in campaign
contributions from oil, gas, utilities, chemicals and manufacturing
companies which has undoubtedly played a role in his consistent
disregard for environmental protection. In the last five years,
Joe Barton has cast only 3 pro-environment votes out of 65 opportunities,
earning him a 0% rating in 2003 by the League of Conservation
Voters.
In 2005, Rep.
Barton sponsored H.R. 3893, a bill “to expedite the construction
of new oil refining capacity in the United States by providing
incentives that include waiving environmental protections and
allowing refineries to be located in national wildlife refuges.” Barton
also sponsored the Energy Policy Act of 2005 “that subsidizes
new fossil fuel development at the expense of the environment,
while largely ignoring efficiency and clean energy technologies
that can reduce oil dependence, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.” These
two legislative acts have gained negative attention from Republicans
as well as Democrats, leading to Barton receiving the lowest
rating of any House member on the Republicans for Environmental
Protection 2005 Congressional Scorecard.
Unfortunately,
Joe Barton’s actions are not confined to Washington. In
the summer of 2003, he was given the nickname Smoky Joe from
environmsent groups during a two-year battle over emissions from
nearby Ellis County’s cement plants. Barton petitioned
the EPA to lower federal emission standards and was unsuccessful
in his attempts to exclude Ellis County from the North Texas
region. The EPA says the plants are not in compliance with federal
clean-air requirements.
Unsurprisingly,
the owners of the cement plants, TXI and Holcim, are largely
responsible for over $60,000 that Barton has received in campaign
contributions from the cement industry since 1998. In this case
and many others, Joe Barton has intentionally overlooked the
environment and the health of his constituents in order to further
the financial gain of his major campaign contributors, making
him the obvious choice for HP4J’s first Earth Killer Award.
Related Links
Joe
Barton’s campaign contributions
League
of Conservation Voters
Republicans
for Environmental Protection Scorecard (PDF)
Clean
Air Blog
|
