©2025 League of Conservation Voters
2012 Scorecard Vote
293
127
11
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) sponsored H.R. 4348, the Surface Transportation Extension Act, Part II, which would legislatively approve the dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, endanger the health and safety of thousands of communities by failing to establish minimum national safeguards for coal ash disposal, and roll back federal environmental permitting requirements for highway construction projects. The bill would authorize the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline despite unresolved concerns about the pipeline’s impact on Americans’ land, air, water, and health, its negative impacts on climate change, and the fact that no route for the pipeline existed. At the same time, it would fail to address mounting problems caused by the annual dumping of 100 million tons of toxic coal ash, which contains arsenic, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury, and other hazardous substances that poison our drinking water and air. The Environmental Protection Agency has found that some coal ash ponds pose a 1 in 50 risk of cancer to residents drinking arsenic-contaminated water. On April 18, the House approved H.R. 4348 by a vote of 293-127 (House roll call vote 170). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. While provisions related to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and coal ash pollution were dropped, numerous highly problematic provisions undermining public participation in the environmental review process were included in the compromise transportation bill-H.R. 4348, MAP-21-which President Obama signed into law on July 6.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters