Next week, Newsweek will reveal its fourth annual Green Rankings. First, however, The Daily Beast is ranking the greenest legislators across America—to identify the ecofriendly politicians to parallel our ecofriendly companies.
To find the greenest members of Congress, we started with the most recent annual scoring of legislators’ environmental records from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), homing in on the nearly 100 electeds who scored a 97 out of 100 or better. Then, because money makes the political world go ’round, we looked at donations from the oil, gas, and mining industries, to see if there were any so-called green politicians taking big dollars from potential polluters. To find out who was more likely to be beholden to environmental concerns, we also took into account donations from environmental policy and alternate energy interests, more likely to push for support for green legislation. These donation dollars were calculated as a percentage of each politician’s total donations over the most recent term-period (six years for senators, two years for representatives), with data from the Center for Responsive Politics and Maplight. Finally, we added bonus points for politicians who are members of environmental caucuses.
—Clark Merrefield
The Green Rankings were created in 2009 with ASAP Media, a New York City media development firm founded by editors Peter W. Bernstein (pbernstein@asap-partners.com) and Annalyn Swan (aswan@asap-partners.com). It specializes in creating magazine, book, and online content.
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $4,406,285
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $14,600
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: None
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $1,204,228
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $0
Alternate energy donations: $3,500
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Congressional International Conservation Caucus; Children’s Environmental Health Caucus
Cliff Owen / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $972,741
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $3,000
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition; House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; House Oceans Caucus; Congressional International Conservation Caucus; Children’s Environmental Health Caucus
Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $6,713,205
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $2,500
Environmental policy donations: $14,550
Alternate energy donations: $25,000
Environmental caucus memberships: None
Susan Walsh / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $22,478,171
Mining donations: $15,650
Oil and gas donations: $14,400
Environmental policy donations: $124,309
Alternate energy donations: $103,492
Environmental caucus memberships: None
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $5,729,465
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $500
Environmental policy donations: $18,920
Alternate energy donations: $5,400
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Senate Oceans Caucus; Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Cliff Owen / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $2,639,278
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $3,500
Environmental policy donations: $19,972
Alternate energy donations: $5,000
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; House Oceans Caucus
Seth Wenig / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $11,683,641
Mining donations: $4,800
Oil and gas donations: $24,550
Environmental policy donations: $160,161
Alternate energy donations: $21,700
Environmental caucus memberships: Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $6,616,122
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $6,500
Environmental policy donations: $67,306
Alternate energy donations: $500
Environmental caucus memberships: Senate Oceans Caucus
Harry Hamburg / AP Photo
LCV Score: 97
Total donations: $3,922,942
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $700
Environmental policy donations: $72,063
Alternate energy donations: $5,000
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Congressional International Conservation Caucus; Children’s Environmental Health Caucus
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
LCV Score: 97
Total donations: $696,107
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $13,200
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition
Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $2,009,221
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $14,191
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $265,499
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $2,250
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition; House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; House Oceans Caucus
AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $6,982,368
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $3,250
Environmental policy donations: $83,860
Alternate energy donations: $1,000
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Senate Oceans Caucus; Congressional International Conservation Caucus
LCV Score: 97
Total donations: $689,236
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $17,225
Alternate energy donations: $0
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition; House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; House Oceans Caucus; Congressional International Conservation Caucus
AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $17,269,674
Mining donations: $5,050
Oil and gas donations: $1,500
Environmental policy donations: $247,492
Alternate energy donations: $48,099
Environmental caucus memberships: Senate Oceans Caucus
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $11,374,594
Mining donations: $13,800
Oil and gas donations: $27,760
Environmental policy donations: $300,697
Alternate energy donations: $41,925
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Congressional International Conservation Caucus
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $6,069,246
Mining donations: $250
Oil and gas donations: $1,000
Environmental policy donations: $87,445
Alternate energy donations: $10,650
Environmental caucus memberships: House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $2,402,876
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $37,012
Alternate energy donations: $1,000
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition; House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Congressional International Conservation Caucus; Children’s Environmental Health Caucus
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
LCV Score: 100
Total donations: $1,003,489
Mining donations: $0
Oil and gas donations: $0
Environmental policy donations: $25,099
Alternate energy donations: $500
Environmental caucus memberships: House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition; House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; Children’s Environmental Health Caucus
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Photo
