Pressure is mounting in Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This year’s elections favor Democrats who are both seeking and holding Senate seats. The GOP is defending twenty-two seats—some are considered vulnerable because of a state’s changing political tide and four are up for grabs because the current occupant is retiring. The Democrats are defending twelve seats, and all but one appear to be safe. In many of the more contested races, the environment is emerging as an area where candidates’ policies and records are in sharp contrast. The following is a wrap-up of the environmental and energy positions in five of the most closely watched races in November.
VIRGINIA: WARNER VERSUS GILMORE
Pollsters see this race as a shoe-in for former Democratic governor Mark Warner, who is running against another former governor, Jim Gilmore, for the seat being vacated by retiring Senator John Warner (no relation). As governor from 2002-2006, Mark Warner imposed tough regulations on wastewater treatment plant discharges of nitrogen and phosphorous into the Chesapeake Bay watershed, supported the cleanup of hundreds of streams, passed legislation giving state environmental agencies more clout to punish polluters and successfully petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect more than 380,000 acres of roadless areas in two of Virginia’s national forests. He supports lifting the moratorium on drilling for oil and natural gas reserves in coastal areas but would allow states to decide whether to pursue production. He has called for increased research into alternative fuels; consideration of nuclear energy, clean-burning coal and hydrogen; and raising fuel efficiency standards.
Gilmore, a conservative, is a strong proponent of energy self-sufficiency. He supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as in the country’s coastal areas, using the motto “Drill here. Drill now. Pay less.” Along with advocating expansion of nuclear power and more use of coal, he supports development of alternative energy sources, including biomass and ethanol. As governor of Virginia from 1998-2002, he called the state’s Department of Transportation to task for the unauthorized filling of wetlands and for releasing tons of sewage into a fresh water creek. He is on the National Rifle Association’s board of directors
NEW MEXICO: UDALL VERSUS PEARCE
New Mexico’s race for the seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Pete Domenici features staunch environmentalist Representative Tom Udall, a Democrat, against Republican Representative Steve Pearce, who some conservation groups have dubbed “an environmental extremist.” Besides riding on the shoulders of a legendary family name (see “All in the Family,” page 22), Udall brings to the race an overall 97 to 100 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit advocacy group that monitors how members of Congress vote on environmental issues. He has voted against diluting the Endangered Species Act, and speeding up environmental reviews of thinning projects and construction of oil refineries. He favors raising automobile fuel efficiency standards, providing tax incentives for renewable energy, keeping the ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and retaining the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling, although recently he said he “would not put myself in a category that I’m opposed to all future (oil and gas) development….”
Steve Pearce, a Vietnam veteran and former owner of an oil field service company, is rated at 5 percent by the League of Conservation Voters. He supports drilling in the ANWR and in coastal areas, speeding up forest thinning projects and diluting the Endangered Species Act. While in Congress he introduced a bill that, via an obscure nineteenth century law, would give states and local governments the right to pave roads through federal land. Recently he has sponsored a bill that eliminates wilderness study areas and mandates the sale of as much as 60,000 acres of federal land in New Mexico’s Doņa Ana County. According to the Progressive Patriots website, Pearce has “taken more money from polluting fossil fuel corporations than any other member of the U.S. House.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE: SUNUNU VERSUS SHAHEEN
New Hampshire voters will be choosing between current Senate office holder John Sununu, a Republican, and former governor Jeanne Shaheen. In 2002, Sununu defeated Shaheen in a bitter contest that later resulted in criminal charges against three state Republican campaign workers for jamming phone lines. In more recent elections, New Hampshire has hued blue and many pollsters see Sununu as one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans in this fall’s race.
As a three-term governor, Shaheen led efforts to dramatically reduce mercury emissions and remove MTBE, a gasoline additive that pollutes groundwater, to protect New Hampshire’s water supply. The country’s number one environmental priority, she says, “must be to reverse global warming and become energy independent.” She advocates investing in renewable energy and technologies to increase energy efficiency, and ending tax breaks and subsidies to big oil companies.
Sununu has not only voted with the Bush administration on many environmental issues, but at times he has helped devise them. According to the New York Times, he played a pivotal role in the White House’s decision to oppose financial aid for developing countries that phase out chemicals that contribute to the destruction of the atmospheric ozone layer. Sununu has voted against protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and against renewable energy tax credits, and he has voted to maintain subsidies to the coal industry. The League of Conservation Voters gives him a 42 percent rating.
COLORADO: UDALL VERSUS SCHAFFER
This now purplish-hued state will feature a classic match between a mountain-climbing Democrat legislator with a pristine environmental pedigree, Mark Udall, and Bob Schaffer, a former Republican congressman who now works for the oil industry.
During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Udall—son of former Arizona congressman Morris Udall and cousin to Tom—has worked to expedite thinning in Colorado’s bark beetle-ravaged forests to help reduce wildfire risks. A long-time advocate of renewable energy, he has called for increased funding for the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. While not opposed to oil drilling on public lands, he believes some potential drilling areas should be closed to development and preserved for future generations. Udall has helped create one new wilderness area, and he supports legislation to extend wilderness protection to Rocky Mountain National Park. He has called for developing “a national strategy to confront the environmental challenges posed by global climate change.”
As a congressman, Schaffer supported the 2001 energy bill that gave millions in tax breaks to energy companies. He supported a bill that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and voted against amendments to ban oil drilling in new national monuments or sensitive areas. He has opposed an array of wildlife conservation or habitat restoration projects and voted against legislation to create the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Following his term in office, Shaffer went to work for Aspect Energy, a private exploration and energy investment company. In 2008, the League of Conservation Voters placed Schaffer on its “Dirty Dozen” list, citing his lifetime environmental voting record of 5 percent.
ALASKA: STEVENS VERSUS BEGICH
Republican Senator Ted Stevens has helped to keep Alaska awash in federal money for forty years. But Stevens, who is running for his seventh term, is also embroiled in an FBI bribery and corruption investigation. His Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, is the son of a former Alaskan congressman and mayor of the city that encompasses Alaska’s highest population density. Polls taken through June had the two within two percentage points of each other, but with the lead switching between the candidates.
Begich supports the creation of a natural gas pipeline to provide energy to the continental United States. He sees Alaska as a potential leader in renewable energy development and the use of energy efficient technologies and supports opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to responsible oil and gas development. He wants to generate 25 percent of domestic electricity use from renewable sources by 2025 and has called for a 25 percent reduction in energy consumption nationally and statewide by 2018. He supports legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent of current levels by 2050 through a cap and trade system.
Stevens has been a staunch proponent of drilling in the ANWR. He has supported removing subsidies for oil and gas companies, voted against reducing funds for building roads in national forests and for increasing funds for road maintenance and fish habitat improvement. The League of Conservation Voters has given him a 5 percent rating.