North Carolina lawmakers have failed the environment.
They have drawn national attention this year for their aggressive efforts to reverse progress on civil rights, tax fairness, and social safety net programs.
The 2013 legislative session was an unprecedented disaster for the state's environment.
A record number of lawmakers in the Republican supermajority-controlled legislature earned zero scores on the annual report card issued by the N.C. League of Conservation Voters. Among the pieces of legislation considered were bills to speed the state's move to fracking, limit local control over air and water protections, and dissolve or restructure various environmental oversight boards.
This year, the Senate has also approved extreme measures to rush the state into doing away with protections for our beaches, rivers and lakes, and dismantle our environmental commissions.
The group’s 2013 legislative scorecard put 65 percent of the 170-member N.C. General Assembly in the failing category based on nine contested votes in the House and 13 in the Senate. Nearly two-thirds of the Senate didn’t pass the environmental advocacy group’s test.
With all of the attacks on the environment it is little wonder that the senate has such miserable scores, one cannot help but imagine Senate are purposely attacking the environment. As far out as that is to believe, with the votes counted including: Dix park, repeal of Jordan Lake cleanup standards, lifting the fracking moratorium and remaking environmental commissions it is suddenly not so far fetched.
Well this doesn’t sit well with me, and it shouldn’t with you. Lets send them a message. Shape up or shift out. We care about the environment, its time you do to.
