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Four environmental groups simultaneously endorsed Barack Obama for president on Wednesday because what, were they going to go for Romney?

It's not like anybody thought the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Environment America and Clean Water Action were going to get behind the guy who wants to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as more of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, to drilling. Check The Washington Post's handy guide to the candidates' environmental positions for quick reference on where each stands, but know this: Obama may have put off trying to pass smog rules and reopened the Gulf of Mexico to drilling after the BP spill, but these groups have no reservations picking him as the clear choice above Romney. That's obvious from the timing of the announcement, far earlier than most of these groups have endorsed a candidate, The Chicago Tribune's Nela Banerjee points out. In 2008, the Sierra Club endorsed Obama in late June, after John McCain proposed lots of new nuclear reactors and offshore drilling. Romney hasn't even made any environmental policy statements recently, so we're guessing this endorsement is almost a pro-forma thing, timed to coincide with Earth Day on Sunday. Hey, they got a blog post out of it.

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Adam Martin