Washington, D.C. – Today the League of Conservation Voters launched a $50,000 digital ad campaign holding eight members of the House of Representatives accountable for their votes on a spending bill that cuts funding for the National Park Service, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Environmental Protection Agency while containing a slew of anti-environmental policy riders.

The ads, running on Facebook in the members’ districts, criticize Reps. Darrell Issa (R, CA-49), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R, NJ-11), Ken Calvert (R, CA-42), Collin Peterson (D, MN-7), Barbara Comstock (R, VA-10) and Mimi Walters (R, CA-45) for voting for the spending bill’s unacceptable funding cuts and harmful policy riders. The campaign also includes ads thanking Reps. Betty McCollum (D, MN-4) and Frank LoBiondo (R, NJ-2) for standing up to these attacks.

“With President Trump leading the most anti-environment administration in our history, we need Congress to protect our public lands and boost funding for the EPA – but instead, the House passed a reckless bill that threatens our outdoor recreation economy, clean air, and clean water,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “Members of Congress who refuse to stand up to this radical agenda should know that their constituents are listening and will hold them accountable for putting corporate polluter profits ahead of our families.”

H.R. 3354 passed the House of Representatives on September 14, but generated bipartisan opposition. The legislation’s attacks on environmental priorities includes:

• Drastic cuts to parks and programs that protect public lands, including a 32 percent cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and a $64 million cut to the National Park Service.
• A more than $500 million cut to the EPA, while hurricanes Harvey and Irma have highlighted the need for a robustly-funded EPA to protect communities from pollution in our waterways and from industrial facilities.
• Cuts to the EPA’s Environmental Justice Program, which helps low income and minority communities overcome the disproportionate impacts of exposure to hazardous pollution and environmental contamination that have historically plagued these communities.
• Several other anti-environmental policy riders, including measures that would allow the Trump administration to bypass the law and hide from the public the EPA’s repeal of drinking water protections for 117 million people; to delay and weaken smog standards that protect clean air; and to eliminate protections for endangered species such as the Gray Wolf.

LCV’s “Our Lands, Our Vote” campaign has been engaging people across the country to stand up for our public lands and waters since launching in June. Just this week, the Trump administration continued its assault on our public lands when reports surfaced that Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended the biggest rollback of protected public lands in our history.