The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 23, 2008

Lawmakers get poor ‘green’ grades

By Matt Snyder

MERCER COUNTY — If the grades passed out by the advocacy group PennEnvironment are accurate, Mercer County’s most environmentally sound state legislator is only getting a D+.

Pennsylvania representatives and senators were evaluated by their votes on either nine issues in the House or seven in the Senate, but the representatives are calling “foul” on at least some of those scores.

State Rep. Mark Longietti, Hermitage, D-7th District, scored highest at a 67 percent, voting “pro-environment” by PennEnvironment’s measure in six of nine cases.

But Longietti said they counted the bill to toll Interstate 80 — which also provides money for public transit mainly in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — as a pro-environment bill because public transit reduces vehicle emissions.

“That’s part of the problem, when you write any particular piece of legislation, there’s more to it than the part they’re taking out,” he said.

No state representative with constituents in Mercer County voted for the I-80/public transit bill.

Longietti also voted in favor of spending $25 million for coal-fired power plants that need to make required improvements, which PennEnvironment counted as a blow against the environment.

“Coal’s a big part of our region, and it’s also a part of our energy solution. We just need to find ways to make coal more environmentally friendly, to have cleaner burning coal,” Longietti said.

State Rep. Dick Stevenson, Grove City, R-8th District, who scored a 0 percent on the scorecard, said coal can provide the bulk of Pennsylvania’s energy needs, something that wind power is not yet capable of doing.

“My choice is to go with the energy that does produce the quantities that we find necessary in Pennsylvania at a more reasonable cost,” he said.

He opposed $30 million to promote wind power on the same principle, he said. Stevenson added that some of his votes would have cleared “waste coal” off previously strip-mined sites. That coal would otherwise contribute to acid rain, he said.

Based on some of his policies, Stevenson said his rating in his perspective is higher than the one given to him by PennEnvironment.

State Rep. Michele Brooks, Jamestown, R-17th District, scored an 11 percent based on her vote in favor of $30 million for the wind industry. Hodge Foundary, Hempfield Township, which produces parts for wind turbines is in her legislative district, she said.

Mrs. Brooks said she has made environmentally-friendly votes for bio-fuels and recycling, but that PennEnvironment focused too heavily on global warming issues in their scorecard.

“They have their agenda, and if it’s not lockstep, then they give you a poor rating,” she said.

Mrs. Brooks also bulked at the price tag on some of the pro-environmental bills, saying one alternative energy plan required one of the largest debt authorizations in state history.

The average score in the House of Representatives was 62 percent, said a PennEnvironment release.

The average in the state Senate was 50 percent, where state Sen. Robert D. Robbins, Salem Township, R-50th District, scored a 29 percent for voting pro-environment two times out of seven, by PennEnvironment’s measure.

Robbins could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon in his Harrisburg office and did not return a message left at his Greenville office.

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