Advocacy groups are flooding the airwaves with less than a week to go before the Pennsylvania primary.

In the contested Democratic primary of the 17th congressional district, environmentalists are criticizing incumbent Tim Holden for his votes on energy legislation and calling them out of sync with the party.

The League of Conservation Voters, which scores politicians for their votes on environmental legislation, has launched a $230,000 ad campaign criticizing Holden for supporting a Bush Administration energy plan and for voting against Obama White House initiatives.

Mike Palamuso, a spokesman for the League, says it’s safe to say TV viewers in the district will see ads several times over the next several days.

“Sometimes organizations or campaigns will do sort of, what they describe as a ‘show buy,’ just to try to generate some news coverage. That’s not what this is about,” Palamuso said.

But Palamuso also drew a distinction between his group and the other PAC and super PAC buying up airtime in the race.

“We have 500,000 supporters across the country,” Palamuso said. “We are not an organization that is funded by big corporate polluters and has just cropped up in recent years.”

The League isn’t the only long-standing advocacy group spending big in Pennsylvania.

This week Planned Parenthood announced a $100,000 ad buy in a state House special election, in an attempt to sour the chances of Republican Ryan Mackenzie for the vacant legislative seat.