Kentucky Ornithological Society

KOS Action!
Voting Summaries 2003 - 2004 (108th Congress)

Kentucky's Delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives

ANTI = Anti-environment vote & PRO = Pro-environment vote

*Ernie Fletcher was elected governor of Kentucky in November 2003. Ben Chandler was elected to replace Fletcher as the Sixth District Representative on February 17, 2004.

1 - On April 10, 2003, the House of Representatives defeated, by a vote of 162 - 268, a proposal to require a 5 percent reduction in automotive fuel use by 2010, (which would equate roughly to an average standard of 30 miles per gallon). A YES vote (to require a reduction on fuel use) was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

2 - On April 10, 2003, the House of Representatives endorsed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. By a vote of 197 - 228, the House defeated an effort to strip the drilling plan from the energy bill (HR 6). A YES vote (to strip the plan from the measure) was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

3 - On April 11, 2003, Ron Kind (D-WI) offered an amendment to the energy bill (HR 6) that would have removed harmful oil and gas drilling provisions and subsidies from the Energy Bill. The Kind amendment attempted to strike Title II from H.R. 6, which threatens special wildlands and sensitive coastal areas, exempts drilling sites from water pollution standards, and provides unnecessary Federal hand-outs to industry at the cost of the American taxpayer. Despite a recent study by the Interior Department confirming most oil (85%) and gas (88%) resources on our public lands are already available for development, this title seeks to further expedite the permitting and leasing of these resources at the expense of meaningful public involvement and environmental review. Title II of the House energy bill provides unnecessary corporate subsidies for the oil and gas industry during a time of record profits. This title also promotes the use of government funds for unnecessary studies and research that would solely benefit the oil and gas industry. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the provisions of Title II alone will cost taxpayers $414 million over the next ten years. The Kind Amendment would have removed these harmful provisions, as well as a variety of handouts to oil and gas industry, from the energy bill but was defeated by a vote of 171 to 251. YES was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

4 - On April 11, 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an outdated, polluting energy bill (HR 6), rejecting a host of common-sense solutions and choosing instead to sacrifice the crown jewel of America’s National Wildlife Refuge system.  HR 6 continues our dependence on oil by failing to provide any significant increases in the fuel economy of cars, SUVs and other light trucks. America's automobiles guzzle more than 8 million barrels of oil per day. HR 6 exposes consumers to more corporate fraud by rewriting the rules on electricity markets to benefit the utility industry and expose consumers to more Enron-like debacles. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found that utility companies gouged California's consumers by creating false electricity shortages. HR 6 provides huge subsidies on polluting industries by providing billions of dollars to polluting industries including coal, oil and nuclear. Over the next 10 years, these three industries are already scheduled to receive over $33 billion in handouts. Finally, HR 6 threatens America's special places. By relying on destructive drilling in Western public lands, possibly including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and threatens sensitive coastal and marine areas. Pillaging the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would yield less than a six-month supply of oil but would cost America our last pristine Arctic wilderness.  The Energy Bill passed 247-145. NO was the pro-environmental vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted YES.

5 & 6 - On May 20, 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill, H.R. 1904, that will do little to reduce wildfire risks in our national forests, but will do much damage to the forests themselves. The House passed the McInnis bill on a 256 -170 vote, rejecting by a comparable margin (239 -184) a substitute proposal offered by Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The Miller-DeFazio substitute (H. AMDT. 137) included provisions that would actually reduce wildfire danger to people and their property and without choking off the public's voice in the process. H.R. 1904's author, Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO), claims the bill will diminish the threat of wildfire to people and property. Instead, the legislation will reduce the public's voice in forest management and eliminate any obstacles that stand between timber companies and old, valuable trees. Homes and communities would be no safer if the McInnis bill becomes law than they are today.  A YES vote on the Miller-DeFazio substitute (H. AMDT. 137) was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO. A NO vote on H.R. 1904 was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted YES.

7 - On July 15, 2003, House Republicans defeated an effort to restore U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) by a vote of 216 to 211. The provision would have provided $100 million over two years to the fund, which operates in some 140 countries and is the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs. " . . . the United States was once a leader in the effort to improve the lives of women by funding international family planning," said Peter Kostmayer, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Population Connection. "President Bush and his administration would like to convince as many people as possible that the debate about international family planning is really about abortion, but nothing could be further from the truth."  The UNFPA supports family planning programs, prenatal and maternal education efforts, as well as programs to combat sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. NO (to not support an amendment to eliminate the funds) was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted YES.

8 - On July 17, 2003, the rejected an amendment offered by Representative Tom Udall that would have kept science, public input, and wildlife protection in our forest planning process. By a vote of 222 - 198, the House failed to approve an amendment by Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) to block the White House's sweeping re-write of forest management regulations. The Bush Administration wants to boot science, the public, and protection for wildlife out of forest management, and Rep. Udall's amendment came awfully close to putting the brakes on this power grab. YES was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

9 - On July 17, 2003, the House voted against halting the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, upholding by the narrowest of margins a Bush administration plan to instead limit the number and emissions of the vehicles. By a vote of 210-210 (a majority was required for the amendment to prevail), the House rejected the argument that the tracked vehicles spew too much pollution and noise, threatening wildlife. YES (to halt the use of snowmobiles) was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

10 - On July 17, 2003, the House rejected an amendment, by a vote of 199 - 220, to forbid federal funds from being used to kill bison that leave Yellowstone National Park. YES was the pro-environment vote. Five of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO, one (Lucas) voted YES.

11 - On July 17, 2003, the House rejected efforts to ban bear baiting - luring bears with food so they can be shot - on public lands. By a vote of 255 - 163, the House rejected an amendment to restrict the use of funds by the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management to administer any action related to the baiting of bears except to prevent or prohibit such activity. YES was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

12 - On July 17, 2003, the House refused, by a vote of 197 - 228, to require some farmers in the West's dry Klamath Basin to grow only crops needing little irrigation. The amendment would have prohibited growers from planting crops that need large amounts of water, like potatoes and onions, on new leases in the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake national wildlife refuges. The refuges are a stopover for three-quarters of the migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway, providing a place to nest and feed. They also are the only ones in the nation that allow unrestricted commercial farming. The lease lands cover about 20,000 acres and are some of the most productive in the Klamath Reclamation Project. Commercial farms on the Klamath Refuges have repeatedly received their full water deliveries even as the refuges’ marshes are parched by a lack of water. YES was the pro-environment vote. All of Kentucky's representatives (Lewis, Lucas, Whitfield, Rogers, Northup, and Fletcher) voted NO.

13 - On October 15, 2003, while Conference committee members and staff continue working to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the comprehensive energy bill (H.R. 6, S. 14), the House voted 229-182 to instruct energy bill conferees to leave out language that was added in conference requiring damaging offshore oil and gas exploration. YES was the pro-environment vote. Five of Kentucky's Representatives (Whitfield, Lewis, Lucas, Northup, & Rogers) voted NO; one (Fletcher) did not vote.

14 - On October 30, 2003, the House voted to approve HR 2691 (Dept. of Interior Appropriations Bill). Not only will fewer wild and scenic places gain protection next year under this final $19.66 billion Interior Department spending bill, but existing environmental protections for wild landscapes in Alaska and the Rocky Mountain West were stripped away during final conference negotiations. Despite a strong bipartisan attempt to defeat the bill, the House narrowly passed the measure by a vote of 216 to 205, with members of both parties voting against final passage. Perhaps the most egregious development was the elimination of a provision originally passed by the House of Representatives that would have protected National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National Monuments, and Wilderness Areas from road-building under a 19th-century mining law known as RS 2477. NO was the pro-environment vote. Five of Kentucky's Representatives (Whitfield, Lewis, Lucas, Northup, & Rogers) voted YES; one (Fletcher) did not vote.

15 - On November 7, 2003, the House passed, by a vote of 362 - 40, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. One provision in this $401 billion defense bill amends the Endangered Species Act to prohibit setting aside any more "critical habitat" -- lands needed for species to recover -- on military installations that already have a plan for managing natural resources. Another amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lower the threshold on what can be considered "harassment" of a marine mammal. Until now the law has prohibited anything annoying or potentially disturbing; the new standard would be anything threatening survival or reproduction. According to Karen Wayland of the Natural Resources Defense Council, "Exempting the Pentagon from these laws will allow the military to threaten whales, dolphins and other marine mammals with sonar and underwater explosives, and destroy the habitat of the endangered birds and mammals that live on the 25 million acres it controls across the country -- with next to no environmental review." A NO vote was the pro-environment vote. Five of Kentucky's Representatives (Whitfield, Lewis, Lucas, Northup, & Rogers) voted YES; one (Fletcher) did not vote.

16 - On November 18, 2003, the House, by a vote of 246-180, passed an energy bill that constitutes one of the worst disasters for the environment, public health and consumers in years. "The Bush Administration and polluters might be sipping champagne today, but the public is being forced to swallow more pollution in their drinking water, weaker environmental and consumer protections, dirtier air, and despoiled public lands," said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Hatched three years ago in the backroom meetings of the Bush/Cheney Energy Task Force, this energy bill has been an act of secrecy from start to finish. "Make no mistake; this bill will benefit the worst polluting industries in America," said Pope. "Instead of taking responsible steps forward, this bill will take us backwards and put our communities at risk. The majority of Americans don't want this bill. They don't want to breathe dirtier air, they don't want to drink polluted water, and they don't want their precious natural heritage sold out to the oil and gas industry." Some of the worst provisions of the bill include: 1 - Making oil and gas drilling the dominant use of our public lands, 2 - Weakening the Clean Air Act and making it easier for polluters to dirty our air for longer, 3 - exempting damaging oil and gas activities from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts, 4 - letting MTBE (a gasoline additive known to pollute drinking water) manufacturers off the hook for cleaning up their own messes, and saddling local communities with a $29 billion cleanup cost, and 5 - giving billions of dollars to the polluting coal and nuclear industries instead of focusing more resources on cleaner renewable energy like wind and solar power.Energy policy doesn't have to look like this. There is a better way. By using innovative 21st century clean energy technologies, we can clean up our environment; cut the country's dangerous dependence on oil; increase our use of clean, renewable energy; and prevent future blackouts. But instead of taking these smart choices forward, this bill takes us backwards and opens up an entirely new attack on our environment and public health. A NO vote was the pro-environment vote. Five of Kentucky's Representatives (Whitfield, Lewis, Lucas, Northup, & Rogers) voted YES; one (Fletcher) did not vote.

17 - On June 15, 2004, the House once again passed by a vote of 244 - 178 the deeply flawed Bush/Cheney Energy bill (HR 4503) that rewards corporate polluters and special interests with subsidies, tax breaks and exemptions from enforcement while threatening the health, safety and pocketbooks of the American public. Specifically, the bill (1) provides taxpayer financing to subsidize the construction of a mall in Shreveport, Louisiana that includes the city's first ever Hooters restaurant, (2) lets the producers of the gasoline additive, MTBE, off the hook for contamination of drinking water, shifting $29 billion in clean-up costs to taxpayers and localities in 28 states, (3) provides more than $7 billion in subsidies and tax breaks directly benefiting the nuclear industry and makes it easier to dump radioactive nuclear waste, and (4) exempts oil and gas companies from the Clean Water Act. A NO vote was the pro-environment vote. One Kentucky Representative, Ben Chandler, voted NO; the remaining five, Ron Lewis, Hal Rogers, Anne Northup, Ed Whitfield, and Ken Lucas, voted YES.

18 - On June 15, 2004, voting 229 for and 186 against, the House passed a bill (HR 4513) easing requirements of the 1969
 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on renewable-energy projects such as hydroelectric power, solar energy and wind
farms. NEPA requires agencies to prepare "environmental impact statements" that assess the effect of their major actions on the environment. This bill, which awaits Senate action, limits the period for public comment to 20 days and relieves agencies of the obligation under NEPA to consider alternative sites for renewable-energy projects. A NO vote was the pro-environment vote. One Kentucky Representative, Ben Chandler, voted NO; the remaining five, Ron Lewis, Hal Rogers, Anne Northup, Ed
                                 Whitfield, and Ken Lucas, voted YES.

19 - On June 17, 2004, the House voted to cut off federal funds for new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest. Protecting the Tongass makes economic sense in two ways. One, the Tongass' natural assets support hunting, fishing, seafood production, and tourism activities that inject a steady stream of dollars into the local economy. Two, at a time of tight federal budgets, it is wrong to burden the taxpayers with subsidizing expanded timber production in a high-cost region that is far away from global wood products markets. Over the last two decades, taxpayers have spent $750 million subsidizing timber sales and logging roads in the Tongass, where the roads maintenance backlog is approximately $900 million. A YES vote (to cut off funds for new logging roads) was the pro-environment vote. Two Kentucky Representatives, Ben Chandler and Ed Whitfield, voted YES; the remaining four, Ron Lewis, Hal Rogers, Anne Northup, and Ken Lucas, voted NO.

20 - On June 17, 2004, the House voted to let snowmobile riders continue using Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, as the recreation industry dealt a defeat to environmentalists. By 224 to 198, the chamber defeated an effort to ban the vehicles by lawmakers who said they caused pollution and noise and posed a danger to the parks' wildlife. A YES vote (to ban snowmobiles from the parks) was the pro-environment vote. Two Kentucky Representatives, Ben Chandler and Ed Whitfield, voted YES; the remaining four, Ron Lewis, Hal Rogers, Anne Northup, and Ken Lucas, voted NO.

21 - On June 17, 2004, the House voted 202 - 215 to continue the practive of killing bison that move out of Yellowstone National Park. Some animals from that herd, which numbers about 3,700, are killed each winter after leaving the park either to prevent the spread of disease or because they could not be coaxed back inside. A YES vote (to prohibit the killing of migrating bison) was the pro-environement vote. Three Kentucky Representatives, Ben Chandler, Ken Lucas, and Ed Whitfield, voted YES; the remaining three, Ron Lewis, Hal Rogers, and Anne Northup, voted NO.

Voting Summaries, 107th Congress

Voting Summaries, 106th Congress

Back to KOS Action!

Back to KOS homepage