The latest scorecard from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters (WLCV) has just been released and one-time environmental champion Gov. Jim Doyle has made the Conservation Dishonor Roll.
Yup, you read that right. The governor who'd had visions of making Wisconsin a green energy utopia was flunked by Wisconsin’s environmental scorekeepers.
Doyle was joined by Milwaukee-area legislators Sen. Jeff Plale, Leon Young and Josh Zepnick, Democrats all, for their work in the 2009-2010 session.
As WLCV puts it, “the Conservation Dishonor Roll recognizes legislators who went the extra mile to jeopardize Wisconsin’s natural resources.”
Ouch!
What were their crimes?
Well, Doyle flip-flopped on the independent DNR secretary. First he said he was for it. Then, when the legislature passed that bill, he vetoed it.
Young and Zepnick followed suit, voting for the bill when it initially passed the state Assembly, then voting against it to kill a veto override.
And what more can be said about Plale’s dismal environmental record?
In singling out Plale, Russ Decker and Dave Hansen for criticism, WLCV wrote:
“In the last days of the legislative session, these senators offered an amendment to an anti-conservation bill that made it even worse. Their amendment to SB 273 allows trash burning and the possible incineration of hazardous waste to be counted as clean energy. SB 273 was the only anti-conservation bill to make it through the entire legislature.”
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And don’t forget that Plale blocked the Senate from hearing the Clean Energy Jobs Act, a piece of legislation that surely would have cemented Doyle’s legacy as a friend of the environment.
But why be so negative? As WLCV points out, only one bill in the past session actually rolled back environmental protections.
Some successes include the ban on phosphorus in fertilizer, an anti-littering measure, electronic waste regulations, mercury restrictions, biofuels support, uniform wind farm regulation standards, wetlands protections, green manufacturing incentives and increased DNR power to combat invasive species.
