Maine
League Of Conservation Voters - Environmental Performance
Rankings
Noteworthy
environmental achievements this past legislative
year, according to the League of Conservation Voters
Executive Director Elizabeth Townsend in their Annual
publication:
Senator
Richard Bennett (R-Oxford County) appears on The
League's 2004 Honor Roll with a score of 88%. This
marks the first time in nearly twenty years that
a Republican Senator has achieved such a high score.
Moreover, working with Senator John Martin (D-Aroostook,)
he made a concerted, nonpartisan effort to reach
a compromise to ensure continued funding of the
Land for Maine's Future Program. Senator Bennett
will be retiring this year due to Maine's term limits
law, stated the league in their Annual Report Card
publication.
There
were a high number of legislators, particularly
Representatives, on the Dishonor Roll. In all 46
legislators, or nearly one quarter of the Maine
Legislature, consistently voted against environmental
protection, according to the rankings gathered by
the League.
The
entire Lewiston delegation spoke loudly and clearly
in support of the environmentally important minority
report on LD 1899. Senator Peggy Rotundo and Representatives
Margaret Craven, Richard Mailhot, Lillian O'Brien,
and William Walcott were united concerning the importance
of the Androscoggin River to their city, and adamant
that exempting it from high environmental standards
treats their community as second-class.
HOUSE
SCORECARD, local legislators, excerpted-
Terrence
McKenney, Cumberland, R, 2003-4 session: 7%, 2001-2:27%,1999-00:25%
Lois
Snowe-Mello, Poland, R, 2003-4 session :0%, 2001-2:9%,
1999-00:25%
David
Tobin, Windham, R, 2003-4 session:14%, 2001-2:36%,
1999-00:66%
Michael
Vaughan, Durham, R, 2003-4: 0%
Richard
Woodbury, Yarmouth, U, 2003-4:86%
Susan
Austin, Gray, R, 2003-4: 7%*
Joseph
Bruno, Raymond, R, 2003-4: 14%, 2001-2: 45%, 1999-00:
66%
SENATE
SCORECARD- local legislators, excerpted-
Neria
Douglass, Androscoggin, D, 2003-4: 88%, 2001-2:
100%, 1999-00: 75%
Karl
Turner, Cumberland, R, 2003-4: 63%, 2001-2: 57%,
According
to the League's Executive Director Elizabeth Townsend,
the rankings were gathered through a process that
included meeting with environmental groups such
as the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Maine Audubon
Society, among many others, and listening to their
priorities for the year. When these priorities are
translated into a bill, they are followed by the
League. If the eventual vote is recorded by a roll
call vote of individual legislators, the League
will track those. Not all bills with an environmental
focus are included. There were 8 bills recorded
for the 2004 session and 6 for the previous session.
The League tries to take bills that reflect a diversity
of content, from coyotes to great ponds to household
hazardous waste.
*The
0% shown on the Dishonor Roll for Rep. Susan Austin
is a mistake, the Director said. Austin received
a 7%.
