• Patrick Murphy, Candidate for PA Attorney General
• Dave Levdansky, Candidate for State House in District 39
• State Representative Babette Josephs in District 182
• State Representative James Roebuck in District 188

In Congress, Patrick Murphy earned a lifetime score of 88% from the League of Conservation Voters and stood with the environmental community on tough votes.  When many Pennsylvania legislators of both parties caved to industry pressure and voted against the crucial 2009 bill to promote clean energy and reduce the impact of climate change, Patrick Murphy made the hard choice to vote for a cleaner future.

As Attorney General, he will be a tireless advocate for our health and an aggressive prosecutor of those who illegally pollute our Commonwealth.

Dave Levdansky, Babette Josephs and James Roebuck are among the strongest, most consistent environmental leaders in our state legislature.  In their distinguished careers, they have spearheaded efforts to clean up hazardous materials, improve public health, and ensure our right to clean air and water. Their hard work has been vital to every pro-environment piece of legislation of the last two decades and we simply can’t do without them.

This is a crucial election year for Pennsylvania’s environment and a crucial moment for environmental voters to make their presence felt.

Don’t forget to get out to the polls on April 24.

Don’t forget to bring a government issued photo ID.

Don’t forget to bring your friends and family with you.

###

Click here to help CVPA elect these and other environmental champions in 2012.

For any press inquiries or questions, please contact us at our office: 215-564-3350

Click on the photo above to use the interactive web scorecard to see how your local legislators voted on the Marcellus Shale legislation.

(Harrisburg) – Four of Pennsylvania’s largest citizen-based environmental organizations released their joint “Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Scorecard” today, giving each state senator and representative an environmental grade based on their votes related to Act 13, the omnibus Marcellus Shale legislation signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett on February 14.

Between November, 2011 and February, 2012, the Pennsylvania state legislature held a series of votes on HB 1950 (Act 13), a bill that overturned local ordinances on gas drilling, establishes one of the nation’s lowest gas extraction fees, and makes only minimal improvements to environmental and public health protections from oil and gas drilling.  Passage of Act 13 is the first significant legislation enacted in Pennsylvania since the Marcellus Shale gas drilling boom began over four years ago.  The Marcellus Scorecard provides Pennsylvania’s residents with information on how their legislators voted on this law which will have far reaching impacts on all Pennsylvanians.  The Scorecard covers final passage votes as well as votes on floor amendments to the bill.

“When voters head to the polls this year, they should know how their legislators handled the Marcellus Shale, the biggest environmental issue facing Pennsylvania. Combined, we expect our organizations will distribute this scorecard to more than a quarter million Pennsylvania citizens and give every voter online access to this data,” stated Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of PA.

42 State Representatives and 14 State Senators earned perfect 100% scores, including:

• Senate Minority Leader Senator Jay Costa (D-Allegheny)
• Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Minority Chair Senator John Yudichak (D-Luzerne)
• Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) and Senator Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester)
• House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Centre), Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Rep. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks), Rep. Eugene DePasquale (D-York), Rep. Bryan Barbin (D-Cambria)
• Minority Caucus Chair Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny)

Legislators scoring below 50% include:

• Senators Charles McIlhinney (R-Bucks), Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery), Richard Alloway (R-Franklin), Edwin Erickson (R-Delaware), and Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery), each of whom signed a letter to the Governor opposing HB 1950 and vowing to protect municipal rights only days before voting in favor of the bill.
• Senator John Wozniak (D-Cambria), Senator Tim Solobay (D-Washington), and Rep. Peter Daley (D-Washington), who represented the lowest scores among Democrats
• House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Rick Saccone (R-Allegheny), Randy Vulakovich (R-Allegheny), and Martin Causer (R-McKean)
• House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Majority Chair Rep. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango)
• House Speaker Rep. Sam Smith (R-Punxsutawney)
• Majority Leader Rep. Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny)

Democratic members of the state legislature earned scores ranging from 0% to 100%.  Democrats earning a failing score under 63% included:  Sen. Wozniak (Cambria), Sen. Solobay (Washington), Sen. Brewster (Allegheny), Rep. Daley (Washington), Rep. Gergley (Allegheny), Rep. Gibbons (Beaver), Rep. Mullery (Luzerne), Rep. Wheatley (Allegheny).

However, the highest Republican score was only 54%.  This is in stark contrast to Scorecards put out in past years by these environmental groups where numerous Republican legislators earned scores of 90-100%.

The interactive online scorecard can be viewed at http://www.conservationpa.org/marcellusscorecard.

For a PDF of the official scorecard booklet, click here.

February 7, 2012

Conservation Voters of PA Announces Pennsylvania Delegation Scores from LCV’s 2011 National Environmental Scorecard

***Full Scorecard available at www.lcv.org/scorecard ***

Philadelphia, PA – Today, Conservation Voters of PA (CVPA) joined the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in releasing the 2011 National Environmental Scorecard, revealing scores for the Pennsylvania delegation in the first session of the 112^th Congress. The 2011 Scorecard reflects the most anti-environmental session of the U.S. House of Representatives in history, featuring unparalleled assaults on our nation’s bedrock environmental and public health safeguards.  The good news is that while the House voted against the environment a shocking number of times, both the U.S. Senate and the Obama administration stood fast against the vast majority of these attacks.  Indeed, not only did our cornerstone environmental protections emerge from 2011 largely unscathed, the Obama administration also made major progress through administrative actions to protect our air and water.

“We applaud those members of the Pennsylvania delegation who opposed the countless attacks on vital public health and environmental protections in 2011,” said CVPA Executive Director Josh McNeil. “The state government in Harrisburg is doing little to protect our environment and so these federal protections are crucial to the ongoing safety of Pennsylvania’s families.”

The 2011 Scorecard includes 11 Senate and a record 35 House votes on issues ranging from public health protections to clean energy to land and wildlife conservation. The House votes included in the 2011 Scorecard are simply many of the most significant votes taken in a year that saw the House voting more than 200 times on the environment and public health. In Pennsylvania, four House members and Senator Casey earned excellent scores of 90 percent or more in 2011, while six House members and Senator Toomey earned abysmal scores below 10 percent. The average House score in 2011 for Pennsylvania was 38 percent and the average Senate score was 50 percent.

“In 2011, the House Republican leadership unleashed a truly breathtaking and unprecedented assault on the environment and public health, the breadth and depth of which have made the current U.S. House of Representatives the most anti-environmental in our nation’s history,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “LCV is grateful to those members of the Pennsylvania delegation and to the Obama administration for helping to ensure that the House Republican leadership did not succeed in gutting our nation’s cornerstone environmental and public health protections in 2011.  We look forward to working together in 2012 and beyond to protect the planet for future generations.”

% 2011                   % Lifetime

PA Senate Scores:

Casey                                                      91                              96

Toomey                                                   9                               11

% 2011                   % Lifetime

PA House Scores:

District 1               Brady, R.                94                           81

District  2               Fattah                    94                           89

District  3               Kelly                         9                              9

District 4               Altmire                   40                          64

District 5               Thompson, G.       11                             8

District 6               Gerlach                   34                          50

District 7               Meehan                  17                           17

District 8               Fitzpatrick            46                            58

District 9               Shuster                     9                               6

District 10            Marino                    11                             11

District 11            Barletta                    14                            14

District 12            Critz                          43                            46

District 13            Schwartz                 94                            97

District 14            Doyle                        91                            69

District 15            Dent                          23                            30

District 16            Pitts                            9                                9

District 17            Holden                    43                             57

District 18            Murphy, T.             11                             13

District 19            Platts                        29                             34

For over 40 years, the National Environmental Scorecard issued by LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health and energy issues.

The full 2011 National Environmental Scorecard can be found at www.lcv.org/scorecard and the pdf is available at www.lcv.org/scorecard/scorecardweb.pdf

###

Governor Tom Corbett, who was elected with the help of over 1.6 Million dollars from the natural gas industry, must uphold the Pennsylvania constitution and not give in to oil and gas industry lobbyists. The proposed bills on Marcellus Shale extraction fees (House Bill 1950 and Senate Bill 1100) are bad legislation, and fundamentally flawed.

These bills were written by industry lawyers and have been forced through both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature by the Governor’s friends in leadership (who, besides being the same party as the Governor, also received large gas and oil contributions to their campaigns.)

It is important that Governor Corbett show that he is not corrupted by campaign contributions. He also swore to uphold our Pennsylvania Constitution which states:

Article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution – Natural Resources and the Public Estate

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

Click here to sign on.

Gas Industry Contributions Impact the PA Legislature

Harrisburg – This week’s passage of Marcellus tax bills SB 1100 and HB 1950 demonstrated the influence of drilling industry campaign contributions on Pennsylvania’s legislative process, as outlined in the data below.  These weak, inadequate bills fail to protect the health and safety of the people of Pennsylvania or to require this wealthy industry to pay its fair share for the good of the Commonwealth.

An analysis of data provided by MarcellusMoney.org suggests that these bills were designed not to protect Pennsylvanians, but to protect the profits of the gas drilling industry and the campaign contributions that reelect our lawmakers.   MarcellusMoney.org, a joint project of Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania tracks the more than $8 million that the natural gas industry has spent on campaign contributions and lobbying in the Commonwealth.

“The legislators that supported these bills sold out the people of Pennsylvania,” said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “Citizens of the Commonwealth have a right to know what price the drilling industry paid to take precedence over public health, over the preservation of natural resources, and over our state’s fiscal security.”

SENATE BILL 1100

Senate Bill 1100 passed by a vote of 29 to 20:

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $818,523
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $115,200
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $28,225
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $5,760

Senator Tim Solobay, one of only two Democrats to vote in favor of final passage, received more gas industry money than any other elected official in his party.  He ranks fourth in gas contributions in the Senate, having accepted $48,825.  Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, the prime sponsor of SB 1100 accepted $293,333. Senator Don White accepted $89,150; Senator Jake Corman accepted $67,290.  Senators Solobay and White serve on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.  Senator Corman is the Chair of the Appropriations Committee.

The Hughes Amendment – A6375 – designed to raise the fees on individual gas wells failed by a vote of 25 to 24.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $171,225
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $762,498
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $7,134
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $30,500

The Furlo Amendment – A6387 – designed to remove the controversial local zoning preemption language in SB 1100 failed by a vote of 22 to 27.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $155,775
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $777,948
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $7,081
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $28,813

The Stack Amendment – A6386 – designed to increase the bonding requirements for new wells failed by a vote of 20 to 29.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $127.175
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $806,548
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $6,359
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $27,812

HOUSE BILL 1950

In the House of Representatives, HB 1950 was considered without amendments. It passed by a vote of 107 to 76, with 20 members excused from voting.

• Total gas contributions to Representatives voting ”Aye”: $478,297
• Total gas contributions to Representatives voting ”Nay”: $263,975
• Average contributions to a Representative voting “Aye”: $4,470
• Average contributions to a Representative voting “Nay”: $3,473

The 22 sponsors of HB 1950, Representatives Ellis, S. H. Smith, Turzai, Saylor, Reed, Adolph, Major, Stevenson, Vereb, Ross, Grove, Marshall, Helm, Vulakovich, P. Costa, Gergeley, Oberlander, Readshaw, Moul, Christiana, Tallman and Everett accepted a total of $325,747, an average of $14,807. The House as a whole accepted $847,155, an average of $4,173 per representative.

From John Cole of the Scranton Times Tribune