Environmental Scorecard: Gold stars for Ellison and Ramstad; F’s for Coleman, Bachmann and Kline

The Conservation Minnesota Voter Center has released its 2007 Congressional Scorecard rating the voting records of Minnesota’s congressional delegation on energy, the environment and conservation. The nonpartisan environmental advocacy organization releases the annual report to inform residents on “issues that affect our lakes, lands, and lives.”

“Minnesotans care a great deal about protecting our lakes and lands,” said Conservation Minnesota communications director Dave Dempsey. “We think they’ll take these scores into account when they make their congressional voting decisions in November.”

Senators were evaluated by how they voted on 15 key environmental votes, while representatives are graded on 20 votes. The score given is a percentage of votes for positions advocated by the organization on a wide range of issues, including CAFE standards, clean energy, oil subsidies, refinery expansion, off-shore drilling, water resources and the Farm Bill.

In the U.S. Senate, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar received a score of 83 out of a possible 100 percentage points, and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman scored a 33.

More results after the jump.
Coleman earned his points by supporting CAFE standards and an amendment requiring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider the effects of global climate change in planning water projects. This is the second year in a row that Coleman was awarded a score of 33, bringing his overall average up to 27.

Klobuchar’s review was mainly positive, but the freshman senator earned negative marks for her positions against Farm Bill subsidy reform and the establishment of a commission to prioritize and assess the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $58 billion worth of backlogged projects.

In the House, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of the Fifth District was the only member of the Minnesota delegation to vote the conservation agenda 100 percent of the time, while Republicans Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. John Kline were the only two members to receive scores of zero.

Retiring Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad earned a remarkable score of 95, up from last year’s score of 70. Ramstad, whose only blemish was his support for liquid coal, was bested only by Ellison and equaled only by Democrat Betty McCollum. Ramstad’s departure from Congress is not only a loss for environmental advocates, but it also leaves the remaining Republicans in Minnesota’s congressional delegation looking decidedly anti-environment.

Rounding out the Democratic caucus, freshman Rep. Tim Walz received an 85, Rep. Jim Oberstar a 75, and Rep. Collin Peterson a 60.

The League of Conservation Voters will release the full report card for all congressional representatives tomorrow morning.