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.
