Contact: Chuck Porcari (cell: (240) 286-7566) or Mark Sokolove (cell: (703) 599-7656) or (202) 785-8683
WASHINGTON - The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the political voice of the national environmental and conservation community, today named Representative Jim Leach (R) as a 2004 Environmental Champion in his race for reelection to Iowa³ 2nd district.
LCV Environmental Champions are candidates who have proven their pro-environment commitment through substantive action. LCV supports these outstanding leaders by rewarding them with direct contributions, fundraising, and occasionally running independent campaigns to help ensure they are reelected to Congress as we continue to build America³ pro-environment majority.
`Leach is an environmental champion because he is dedicated to protecting the health of Iowa families and working hard for a clean and safe environment,� Vice President for Policy. %adership has been particularly strong on protecting public lands and improving air quality.�le="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 80%">Air quality in Rep. Leach³ southeastern Iowa district is among the worst in the state. He demonstrated his leadership on this issue by supporting a 2003 measure that would have forced polluted areas to adopt more stringent ozone clean-up controls.
In 2003, Rep. Leach also championed the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act to help ensure all the nation's waterways are protected. This Act would clarify that all waters in the U.S. are protected under the Clean Water Act.
Leach has also been a strong advocate of protecting our public lands. He sponsored the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act that would �s natural heritage by eliminating the fiscally wasteful and ecologically destructive commercial logging program on Federal public lands�le subsidies, to protect wild roadless areas in our nation³ forests, and against opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and drilling.
Rep. Leach was the first Republican that LCV endorsed for the 2004 election cycle. He earned a 90% score on the 2003 LCV Scorecard.
For information on all of LCV³ 2004 Environmental Champions, visit our website.
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The nonprofit League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is the political voice of the national environmental and conservation community. LCV, which is not a partisan organization, is the only national organization working full-time to hold Congress and the president accountable for their environmental actions. For more information, please visit us on the web at www.lcv.org.
