PennEnvironment Announces Pittsburgh Endorsements

[Philadelphia] – Today the citizen-based environmental organization PennEnvironment announced its slate of environmental endorsements for races in the mayoral and city council primaries in the city of Pittsburgh for the May 16th primary.

PennEnvironment’s endorsements include:

• Mayor: Bill Peduto;
• City Council District 2: Theresa Kail-Smith
• City Council District 4: Ashleigh Deemer
• City Council District 6: R. Daniel Lavelle
• City Council District 8: Dan Gilman

“Our endorsement is a crucial tool to help educate voters support the strongest candidates for our environment on Election Day,” noted PennEnvironment’s Executive Director, David Masur. “These endorsements help voters sift through the barrage of advertisements and competing campaign messages to learn which candidates will best protect Pennsylvania’s air, water and beautiful outdoor places.”

“This slate of candidates ensures that we can continue to move towards a strong, pro-environmental majority in Pittsburgh city government,” stated Masur. “This is crucial as the city continues its efforts to clean up our Three Rivers and promote green infrastructure, faces the challenge of tackling the growing threat of air pollution from the Allegheny Toxic Ten industrial facilities, and works to do its part to address climate change.”

“Moreover, poll after poll shows that voters care deeply about protecting our environment and public health—and they expect the same from their elected officials,” remarked Masur.  “Through our endorsements, we’ll be able to let voters know which local candidates will lead the way when it comes to supporting these values and policies.”

“Given all of the focus on civic engagement and activism after last fall’s election, we are confident that there will be increased attention paid to these races by Pittsburgh voters,” Masur said. “We hope that voters will take that energy and make sure that they’re supporting candidates who support clean air, clean water and protecting the places we love.”

PennEnvironment is informing its members and the general public about the candidates’ positions and views, and is urging voters to support their endorsed candidates on the May 16th ballot.