NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 4, 2015
Contact: Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club (602) 253-8633 – office, (602) 999-5790 – mobile
Sierra Club Releases 2015 Environmental Report Card
Legislature Moving Arizona Backwards, One Bill At A Time
Phoenix, Ariz. – Today, Sierra Club released its 2015 Environmental Report Card for the Arizona Legislature and Governor. The first regular session of the 52nd Legislature wrapped up quickly – in only 81 days – which was a good thing as the session was focused on taking Arizona backwards, one bill at a time.
Legislators trashed local control by prohibiting ordinances to limit plastic bags and other “auxiliary containers” and banned cities from implementing energy-saving benchmarking, too – all in one bill. This makes Arizona the first state in the nation to ban plastic bag bans, a dubious distinction. To take the Grand Canyon state backwards further still, legislators passed four bills to seek control of federal public lands through various means and passed a memorial opposing protection of public lands around Grand Canyon.
“This year’s Legislature tried exceedingly hard to move our state backwards on environmental safeguards, public lands, and conservation of endangered wildlife,” said Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director of Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “Instead of taking actions to better fund and protect our parks and conserve wildlife habitat, Arizona will now be studying how to take over federal public lands, a concept that has been soundly rejected by Arizona voters and vetoed by a previous governor. Arizonans love public lands and do not want to see them sold off and developed. Public lands are a big part of our tourism economy and provide enormous benefits from watersheds to wildlife habitat to recreation.”
Despite the anti-environmental bills that advanced, there was some really harmful legislation that failed to pass both houses. Legislators tried to prohibit native plant salvage requirements and tried to pass legislation to remove Clean Water Act protections from most of our rivers and streams, but those bills did not have the votes to advance. They also did not pass a bill to specifically fund litigation to hinder wolf recovery. A bill that included a repeal of pesticide spraying notification requirements in schools did not advance; neither did a proposed repeal of the Clean Elections Act and a measure to include nuclear power in the definition of renewable energy.
“What continues to be appalling about the Arizona Legislature is that at a time when our state faces great environmental challenges, it passed no bills to significantly advance conservation, to promote solar energy and energy efficiency, or to ensure that our rivers and streams continue to flow,” added Bahr.
The closest the Legislature came to doing something positive for environmental protection is that it specifically authorized the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to adopt and enforce a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants pursuant to the Clean Air Act. While it is a plus to make sure the state has this authority, legislators did it primarily to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from developing Arizona’s plan for us; ironically, at the same time, legislators passed a memorial to oppose the Clean Power Plan.
“The Latino community is disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, so we are pleased that the Legislature recognized the need to actually develop a plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants and comply with the new EPA Clean Power Plan,” said Pedro Lopez, Campaign Director for Chispa. “Although we are concerned about anti-environment opposition, hopefully the Legislature will develop a strong plan that results in real carbon pollution reductions and takes us down a path to a clean energy future with investments in solar, wind, and energy efficiency.”
This year, all but one Republican in the Senate and House received failing grades, meaning they voted correctly on two or fewer bills. On a positive note, four senators and 11 representatives earned an “A+,” which means they voted 100 percent pro-environment and also did not miss a vote on the key bills Sierra Club scored. Three senators and 10 House members also received an “A.”
Governor Doug Ducey earned a “D” on the 2015 Environmental Report Card. Although we appreciate him vetoing two of the public lands grab bills, he did sign the ban on banning plastic bags and other disposable containers that litter the landscape and fill up landfills. He also signed a bill to restrict Arizonans’ ability to refer measures to the ballot or to engage in the successful recall of an elected official. He was graded on seven bills.
Everyone was graded on a curve. The bills focused on public lands, a plastic bag and energy benchmarking ban, Mexican gray wolves, citizen referenda, and elections.
Sierra Club is one of the country’s oldest grassroots environmental organization with more than 35,000 members and supporters in Arizona as part of the Grand Canyon Chapter. At the end of each legislative session, the Grand Canyon Chapter develops its report card in order to inform Arizonans about their legislators’ voting records on key environmental issues.
The Sierra Club report card is available on the website in English here and Spanish here.
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