From Conservation Voters of PA (http://www.conservationpa.org):
The scores don’t lie. They tell the real story about whether or not our legislators are working to protect our environment, health and safety or serving other agendas. That’s why we collaborated on the 2019-2020 Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard which compiles a list of the most important environmental votes taken this session in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. See how your state legislators fared.
The influx of 49 new legislators, including a record number of women and 31 new environmental champions brought fresh and critical voices to environmental fights. Yet anti-environmental leadership in both chambers still made it difficult to pass pro-environmental policies and forced defensive measures to combat efforts to promote plastics, derail actions that would address climate change and roll back protections for oil and gas operations. What side of the fight were your legislators on?
In perhaps it’s most egregious move of the session, at the height of the COVID-19 and economic crises, both chambers passed a bill providing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funded giveaways for the build out of the petrochemical industry.
After vetoing the initial bill, Governor Wolf negotiated a backroom deal to revive this policy and attached it to legislation that would reduce financial burdens on EMS, fire, and rescue companies – putting many legislators in a difficult position. Environmental champions in both chambers attempted to amend this legislation to minimize its environmental impacts, but in the end far too many legislators succumbed to the political pressure.
Democracy works best when you’re armed with the knowledge of your legislators’ actions —and use that information to create a better Pennsylvania by engaging and holding them accountable. We hope you find the 2019-2020 Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard to be such a tool.
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