PA Groups Release Scorecard on State Legislators' Environmental Votes
State Legislators Receive Scores on Votes Affecting Climate Change, Enforcement of Environmental Protection Laws and Giveaways to Gas Drillers
HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Three leading citizen-based environmental organizations released today the joint Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard, which scores state legislators on key environmental votes cast during the 2013 - 2014 Legislative Session.
Clean Water Action, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, and the Sierra Club graded lawmakers in the state House of Representatives and state Senate on whether their votes on important legislation supported protection of the public and the environment.
"Voters deserve the facts on where their representatives stand on measures to protect our water, air and natural resources," said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of PA. "As this Scorecard shows, far too many of our legislators stand firmly against a healthy environment and a safer future for Pennsylvania's families."
Average scores from the 2013-2014 Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard:
State Senate: 41%; Senate Republicans: 19%; Senate Democrats: 68%
House of Representatives: 48%; House Republicans: 21%; House Democrats: 81%
"Several legislators deserve praise for repeatedly fighting attempts to cut back on protections of our waterways, slash environmental enforcement, reject plans by scientists and experts to reduce carbon pollution, and give the gas drilling industry more breaks that they don't need," said Joanne Kilgour of the Sierra Club.
Twenty-five members of the House and five members of the Senate received perfect scores of 100%:
- State Senators Andy Dinniman (D, Chester), Vince Hughes (D, Philadelphia), Daylin Leach (D, Montgomery), Leanna Washington (D, Philadelphia), and Anthony Williams (D, Philadelphia)
- State Representatives Brendan Boyle (D, Philadelphia), Kevin Boyle (D, Philadelphia), Matthew Bradford (D, Montgomery), Tim Briggs (D, Montgomery), Mark Cohen (D, Philadelphia), Mary Jo Daley (D, Montgomery), Margo Davidson (D, Delaware), Madeleine Dean (D, Montgomery), Dwight Evans (D, Philadelphia), Dan Frankel (D, Allegheny), Robert Freeman (D, Northampton), Ed Gainey (D, Allegheny), Patty Kim (D, Dauphin), Thaddeus Kirkland (D, Delaware), Stephen McCarter (D, Montgomery), Erin Molchany (D, Allegheny), Phyllis Mundy (D, Luzerne), Mark Painter (D, Montgomery), James Roebuck (D, Philadelphia), John Sabatina (D, Philadelphia), Steve Samuelson (D, Lehigh), Steven Santarsiero (D, Bucks), Kevin Schreiber (D, York), Michael Sturla (D, Lancaster) and Greg Vitali (D, Delaware)
Forty-two more Representatives and seven additional Senators achieved passing grades above 70%, with scores ranging from 75% to 92%.
"This has been one of the most anti-environmental legislatures in a generation, producing bills that have set our state back when it comes to protecting and cleaning up our water. Not only Republican legislators, but Democrats as well, have joined in supporting a number of these major anti-environmental bills," stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action.
The scorecard includes votes on legislative attacks that became law (or will become law once signed as expected by Governor Corbett), including bills that passed in the final days of the legislative session. Enacted anti-environmental measures include:
- The authorizing of funds raised by opening of State Parks and reopening of State Forests to natural gas drilling.
- A bill that threatens the health of important waterways by allowing for higher levels of degradation in sewage systems.
- A law to disrupt and delay the state's response to the federal Clean Power Plan by putting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the hands of politicians rather than scientists and experts.
- A bill to weaken the state's Clean Streams Law by eliminating the current requirement for a 150-foot buffer zone between new development and the state's specially protected, cleanest streams.
Perhaps most alarming, a majority of House and Senate members, including all Republican legislators, failed to receive a passing grade of 70% or higher. Legislators receiving scores of 0% because they failed to cast a pro-environment vote in any of the key votes were:
- State Senators Scott Hutchinson (R, Centre) and Scott Wagner (R, York)
- State Representatives Kerry Benninghoff (R, Centre), Stephen Bloom (R, Cumberland), Michele Brooks (R, Mercer), Martin Causer (R, McKean), Gordon Denlinger (R, Lancaster), Daryl Metcalfe (R, Butler), Kathy Rapp (R, Warren), Tommy Sankey (R, Clearfield), and Will Tallman (R, Adams)
The 2013-2014 Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard is available at http://www.conservationpa.org/2014scorecard
SOURCE Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania; Clean Water Action; Sierra Club
Related Links
http://www.conservationpa.org/2014scorecard
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