Enviros heart Lieberman

Rated "environmental champion" by the League of Conservation Voters, Lieberman is endorsed by many green groups over Lamont.

By Amanda Griscom Little

Read more: Opinion, 2006 Elections

Sept. 5, 2006 | Progressives around the country cheered when Ned Lamont knocked out Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary last month, but some environmentalists held their applause.

Lieberman -- now running as an independent in an effort to hold onto his seat -- has, by most accounts, been a standout leader on environmental protection during his 18 years in the Senate. While longtime allies like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and fellow Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd are among the many high-profile Democrats backing Lamont, some leading greens are vowing not to leave Lieberman's side.

The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks Lieberman's lifetime voting record at 86 percent (one of the highest scores the group has tallied for a long-running congressional career), says it plans to stand by the endorsement of the senator it issued in March. "We've looked very carefully at his decision to run as an independent, and unanimously agreed to maintain our endorsement," said Tony Massaro, the LCV's senior vice president for political affairs. "Not only do we support Sen. Lieberman, we've named him an environmental champion -- a title we give out very sparingly. His exceptional leadership should be supported no matter what party he belongs to."

The Sierra Club has not yet announced whether it will endorse Lieberman, but the group's spokesman, David Willett, stressed that the senator's party affiliation will have no impact on the decision: "We endorse people, not parties."

Lieberman's name is best known in environmental circles in connection with the Climate Stewardship Act he initially introduced in 2003 with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reintroduced in 2005 and plans to continue pushing this fall. The first federal bill to propose a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases, the act would impose a limit on emissions and allow companies to meet that limit by buying and selling the right to pollute. Lieberman has been a staunch defender of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a vocal critic of President Bush's environmental agenda. He helped draft the landmark 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, and last year cosponsored the bipartisan Vehicle and Fuel Choices for American Security Act, which would reduce U.S. oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day in the next 25 years.

In contrast, Lamont doesn't have much of an environmental record to point to -- largely because he doesn't have much of a political one. A well-heeled technology entrepreneur, Lamont has political experience consisting of chairing the state investment advisory council and serving on a smattering of civic boards. Nevertheless, if elected, it's expected he would vote with the majority of fellow Dems for strong environmental protections. In fact, Lamont suggests on his campaign Web site that he would be a stronger green champion than his opponent, and criticizes Lieberman's support for the 2005 energy bill, "which features billions in subsidies to big oil and does little for conservation and energy efficiency." Lamont also claims he is serious about fighting global warming "in the arenas that really matter -- the courts and the federal government."

Lieberman's communications director, Dan Gerstein, argues that Lamont wouldn't have nearly as much sway on environmental policy as Lieberman, who has been a longtime member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and has played a high-profile role forging bipartisan support for environmental bills. "Lieberman has been both a leader and a key consensus builder on green issues," Gerstein said. "Without him, climate politics changes. The whole landscape of environmental policy changes ... Joe Lieberman has been at the forefront of pretty much every effort to block the administration's rollbacks of environmental standards."

Next page: Lieberman's campaign could inadvertently hobble Democrats' chances in the House