Idaho’s congressmen are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for the environment | Opinion

One of the first clues of former President Donald Trump’s hubris and arrogance was when he was running for president in 2016 and told a campaign audience that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and he wouldn’t lose any voters. His remark was also indicative of how some elected officials take their constituents for granted and vote the interests of large campaign contributors.

In one-party states especially, incumbents can sail through elections without a glove laid on them for ignoring voter preferences. In competitive states and congressional districts, incumbents are held accountable by serious challengers who are well-funded and have emerged from primary battles to face off against the opponent. These elections come as close as you can get to the model democratic experience as voters judge the qualifications and experience of those on the ballot. Incumbents are judged by their record of votes and accomplishments.

An incumbent’s voting record should be the most important piece of election information a voter has at her disposal, but in the case of Idaho’s United States senators and its two congressmen, it doesn’t work that way. Seldom challenged by serious candidates in the primary, the general election is unlikely to produce a Democratic challenger with enough funding to disclose just who our congressional delegation is representing. Too often, the only commercials voters see are TV ads paid for by the campaign coffers of the Republican incumbents, so don’t expect to learn anything about their voting records. It’s more about Making America Great Again!

I thought of how difficult it is to hold incumbents accountable for their votes on the environment when I heard the Society of Environmental Journalists was holding its annual meeting on the Boise State campus last week. These folks must be the most frustrated journalists in America when it comes to the dearth of environmental action over the years.

But what a perfect opportunity to underscore the urgency of climate action as the dominant Republican Party in Idaho spends most of its time denying any connection between human activity and climate disasters.

Here in Idaho, a candidate dedicated to environmental protection doesn’t stand a chance against a Republican incumbent who stashes funding away annually from lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry, mining interests, the automotive industry, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other special interests opposed to climate action. Even unlikely suspects like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney pony up funding to fight climate action.

As a result, for years Congress basically ignored and even denied the warnings of climate change. Few, if any, public officials were ever held responsible for their failure to act. Now that hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and fires grow increasingly dangerous and violent, you would think that Congress would step up, acknowledge the link between climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions and act.

League of Conservation Voters

Fortunately for voters interested in just how their elected officials in Washington vote on environmental issues, the League of Conservation Voters uses its Congressional Scorecard to track the voting records of members of Congress on critical environmental, climate and democracy legislation. In choosing which votes to judge a member of Congress, the League of Conservation Voters zeroes in on two of the most important challenges Congress wrestles with every year. One is the condition of the environment and what the federal government can do to protect and safeguard the air, land and water we hand off to those who come after us. Its other focus is the fight to build a stronger democracy so voters can hold public officials responsible for climate action and related environmental issues.

Idaho’s Republican congressional delegation seldom if ever raises its League of Conservation Voters environmental score above 10%. You read it right. 10%! The Idaho congressional delegation ranks so miserably low on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard that only one member of the delegation barely breaks an extremely low bar of 10%. That would be Congressmen Mike Simpson who made it to 11% last year, and he even managed to snag an appearance on the agenda of the Society of Environmental Journalists last week about his plan to remove the Lower Snake River dams, which conveniently allows him and the Society of Environmental Journalists to navigate far and wide from his lackluster voting record on the environment.

In 2022, Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo earned a 4% rating; Risch’s lifetime score is 9%, and Crapo’s lifetime score came in at 7%. Rep. Russ Fulcher earned a 0% in 2022 and a 5% lifetime score. Simpson chalked up a lifetime score of 10%.

Pause for a moment and consider the breathtaking gap between the most recent annual Public Policy Survey of Idahoans in November 2022 and the measly scores of Risch, Crapo, Simpson and Fulcher on environmental votes. In all, 51% of Idahoans rated the environment among their most important concerns and, yet, all this newer Idaho version of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse can come with is one of the lowest environmental scores in the nation. To paint an even bleaker picture of representation gone wrong, the League of Conservation Voters reserves a special space, like “timeout” for naughty kids, on its National Environmental Scorecard. It’s called the Lowest Senate Delegation scores and Lowest House Delegation scores. Idaho’s two senators and two congressmen were all sent to “timeout.”

Amendments to President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act served as the perfect tool for the League of Conservation Voters to score votes on several issues. For example, one amendment the League of Conservation Voters tracked was intended to short circuit the environmental review and the public input allowed for a broad spectrum of energy-related projects. Aimed at speeding up fossil fuel development, it curtailed judicial review and gave project developers veto power over the time extended for public comment, all to serve the interests of fossil fuel industries at the expense of climate protection. A “no” vote was the correct League of Conservation Voters vote.

Another vote followed on the heels of the Biden Administration’s action to reverse the damage done to environmental progress by former President Trump when he severely rolled back long-standing EPA regulations, speeding up the permitting of dangerous or polluting projects. This vote sought to restore basic elements of the National Environmental Policy Act, including consideration of climate change and cumulative impacts of projects on communities. A “yes” vote was the correct one for League of Conservation Voters.

Republicans also introduced an amendment mandating onshore oil and gas drilling lease sales on public lands, thereby inhibiting public use for conservation or recreation. It’s a long way from the days when environmental stewards like Cecil Andrus and Frank Church stood guard over Idaho’s public lands. A “no” vote was the correct League of Conservation Voters vote.

On these three amendments and many others, Idaho’s congressional delegation voted with lobbyists whose only goal is to forestall climate legislation. It doesn’t take an experienced Washington observer to see what’s going on here. Far removed from an iota of accountability, Idaho’s congressional delegation delivers one of the worst environmental voting records in the Union. Its subservience to campaign contributors who fight climate action is mind-boggling. These supposed representatives of their constituents reject the science and evidence of climate change that will wreak havoc with the lives of their grandchildren. Yet, they get by with it year after year after year. It looks like Trump isn’t the only Republican who thinks he can get away with murder.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio and is a regular columnist for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.