Joe environment

Joe Biden.

Photo: Michael Millhollin

In a 3 a.m. blast of emails and text messages, Democrat Barack Obama announced that his selection for a vice presidential candidate is Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. And, for the most part, representatives from the environmental community were pleased with the news they awoke to Saturday morning.

During his 35 years in the Senate, Biden has been most active on the Foreign Relations Committee, which he now chairs. But in that time he has also racked up a respectable environmental record, earning an 83 percent lifetime voting score from the League of Conservation Voters. LCV, which has endorsed Obama, today rushed out a statement praising Biden.

"Joe Biden recognizes that ending our addiction to oil is vital to our national security," LCV President Gene Karpinski said. "Sen. Biden is a long-time leader on key energy and environmental issues, and the members of LCV enthusiastically support Sen. Obama's choice."

LCV noted that in 1986, Biden introduced the first bill designed to limit global warming pollution, the Global Climate Protection Act. In recent years, he has held Foreign Affairs Committee hearings on the national-security implications of global warming, and he teamed with Republican Sen. Dick Lugar (Ind.) to coauthor and pass out of that committee a resolution calling on the Bush administration to engage seriously in international climate negotiations.

Representatives of big green groups touted Biden's long-standing interest in environmental issues and his background in international relations as evidence that he would be a champion for their causes in the White House.

"Biden has a really strong environmental record," said Sierra Club spokesperson David Willett. "He has been outspoken about global warming for a long time. We think that will make a very strong team. Biden has demonstrated a commitment and values that were the reason we endorsed Barack Obama."

Friends of the Earth Action President Brent Blackwelder told Grist that his group was also pleased with the choice of Biden: "Combining somebody who believes that global warming is a priority and is ready with the foreign policy experience, you have a coherent and new direction, unlike what we've seen over the last eight years," he said. "I think you're going to see a dramatic shift in U.S. foreign policy, where we can regain some of this lost leadership."

Blackwelder said Obama's VP choice "enhances the overall electability of the ticket." FOE Action was the first big green group to endorse Obama, when he was neck and neck with Hillary Clinton during the primaries.

Biden was also in the running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination this year, but dropped out after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses in January. During the primary race, he cited "energy security" as his top priority, and connected it to his work in foreign affairs, emphasizing that geopolitics and environmental stewardship are intertwined.