The Environment &
Public Works Committee oversees the development of the
interstate highway system, as well as numerous environmental
issues. Air
pollution, water
pollution, global
climate change, endangered species, and the cleanup
of toxic
waste sites under Superfund all fall under the
jurisdiction of this Committee.
Key subcommittees under the
Environment & Public Works Committee
Contact
the Senate Environment & Public Works
Committee
Leadership
Sen. James
Inhofe (R-OK) was named Chairman of the Senate
Environment & Public Works Committee in January
2003. He was first elected to the Senate in
1994. Previously, he represented Oklahoma's First
Congressional District in the House, and was the Mayor of
Tulsa. He favors a "common sense" approach to
environmental issues. This approach seeks to
prevent American citizens from guaranteeing their freedom to a
safe and clean environment, by enacting and enforcing
environmental laws and regulations, in order to give powerful
corporate interests the freedom to pollute at
will. Therefore, in the 107th Congress his "common sense"
guided Sen. Inhofe to vote against increasing energy
efficiency standards, protecting drinking water, and
increasing fuel economy standards. He voted in favor of
American taxpayers subsidizing corporate factory farm manure
management. Sen. James Inhofe has a lifetime LCV Score of
5%.
Sen. Jim
Jeffords (I-VT) is the Ranking Member of the Senate
Environment & Public Works Committee. Sen.
Jeffords has represented Vermont in the Senate since
1988. Previously, he served as Vermont's Congressman At
Large from 1975-1988. He left the Republican Party and
became an independent in 2001, because he was finding it more
and more difficult to reconcile his moderate views with the
ideology of his party's leadership. Sen. Jeffords has
time and again been an advocate for a clean and safe
environment. He was one of the principal negotiators of
the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, and remains one of the
Senate's leaders on clean air issues. Jeffords has been
critical of the Bush Administration's approach to the
environment. In December 2002, he stated that:
"Unfortunately, on environmental issues our president is
moving us backward instead of leading us forward." Sen.
Jeffords has a lifetime LCV score of
77%.
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