The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter published its annual Virginia General Assembly Climate & Energy Scorecard. The commonwealth’s legislators were graded on their votes during the 2018 General Assembly Session on legislation impacting Virginia’s energy policies and standards to fight climate change.
“It is essential to focus on the decision makers close to home who are voting on state policies,” Corrina Beall, the Legislative and Political Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, said. “We cannot make strides in the environmental realm unless we hold our elected local officials accountable.”
For each vote supporting the Sierra Club’s position, a legislator received one point. If the legislator was also the patron of an environmental bill, that legislator received one additional “extra credit” point for the session. Cumulative points were then divided by the total number of opportunities to vote, creating a score that represents the likelihood that these legislators will support environmentally progressive policy.
This year, both Sen. Deeds (D-Bath) and Del. Toscano (D-Charlottesville) received a 100 percent, “A+” grade. All of Toscano and Deeds’ votes directly aligned with the Sierra Club’s values, making them top-tier environmental stewards.
The environmental issues evaluated include water quality, solar energy development, fracking, energy efficiency, flood protection, electric utility regulation and coal ash cleanup.
Visit http://vasierra.club/ga2018 to view the scorecard.
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Chris Graham
