Environmental organizations say the state legislature did a better job of protecting the environment this year, with votes on water permit appeals, conservation easements, and a new land preservation trust.
In its legislative scorecard released today, the Tennessee Conservation Voters ranked individual lawmakers, with a positive score denoted by a tree and negative one denoted by a stump. The group praised Senator Doug Jackson of Dickson and Representative Mike McDonald of Portland for their environmental votes, while it gave Senator Steve Southerland of Morristown its lowest ranking.
TCV lobbyist Stewart Clifton says the scorecard’s existence has resulted in an increase in the amount of environmental legislation considered by the legislature. He thinks other issue-based organizations should follow suit.
“I wish we had more groups in different areas looking at what legislators do because sometimes if you look at the actual votes, it’s different from what legislators might say. We think it shows a good trend because we’ve now seen three years of these votes, and they are more environmentally favorable votes now, so in that sense we think it makes a difference.”
In the next legislative session, Tennessee Conservation Voters chair Penny Brooks says clear-cutting, mountain-top removal and water conservation will be the group’s top issues.
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