Conservationists were saddened to learn of the passing this weekend of Edward C. "Ned" Fritz. Mr. Fritz was a founder of the Texas League of Conservation Voters in 1970, and the boards of directors and staff of the League and the League's Educational Fund extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Dubbed the Father of Texas Conservation by the Nature Conservancy, Ned Fritz was a founder and leader of a variety of conservation and environmental organizations, including the Nature Conservancy in Texas and the Texas Land Conservancy. TLCV board member David Todd remarked to the Austin American Statesman, "He was a firebrand; he was so outspoken about things," who later became, "very spiritual, poetic, really, about nature."
All the details and bluster are at www.tlcv.org/blog (and, soon, on our nifty and gorgeous new www.tlcv.org), but the news is Texas' environment won on Election Day.
26 of 34 Texas House candidates and incumbents in contested races endorsed by the Texas League of Conservation Voters PAC won Tuesday night.
2 endorsees for the Senate move forward, 1 doesn't.
11 of the PAC"s top 14 priority races were victories - including helping return leaders like Rep Vo and Rep Frost (a dam hero if you ask me) to Austin, ejecting bad incumbents like Rep Goolsby (who lied to KERA about his clean energy voting record) for good challengers like Carol Kent, and snatching open seats away from anti-conservation candidates, like Joe Moody's victory over Dee Margo.
And as discussed, very much, elsewhere, the opportunity to elect a pro-conservation House Speaker depends on a recount in Irving.
Nationally, the League of Conservation Voters helped President Elect Obama win, along with lots of pro-conservation folks to Congress, like those Udalls.
Texas voters had lots of good choices to vote for in districts across Texas, and in a whole lot of the ones where the League's PAC was active, good people were elected and re-elected. Texas air quality may still be the worst, but I'm breathing easier now.
"I know that we're working hard with the Texas air quality. And the new power plants that are being built, they're going to be adding on to nuclear, which helps the fresh clean air. The new coal plants, they're not going to be putting out as much of the carbon monoxide."
- Rep. Tony Goolsby
Challenged legislator Rep. Tony Goolsby may have misled voters and misstated his environmental record in an interview aired today on KERA Radio in Dallas. In the interview, reporter Bill Brown states, "Goolsby defends his records, saying he's always...supported clean environmental initiatives, including alternative forms of energy like wind, solar and nuclear."
Rep. Goolsby's record, in fact, does not indicate much support for clean air at all. Looking just at the votes in the last legislative session in 2007, Rep. Goolsby voted against clean air and clean energy the vast majority of the time, earning a grade of F in the [www.tlcv.org Texas League of Conservation Voters' 2007 Legislative Scorecard].
Specifically, in 13 particular votes last session, Rep. Goolsby voted against clean air and clean energy 10 times (and in the remaining 3 votes, 2 were consensus measures that passed the House unanimously). Moreover, when you look at all of the votes with environmental impacts cast last session, Rep. Goolsby's voting record is an abysmal 30%.
Representative Goolsby may say he is for 'fresh clean air,' but his voting record is among the worst of any House member when it comes to supporting clean air legislation. The real clean air candidate for District 102 is Carol Kent. TLCV-PAC endorsed Carol Kent for District 102 over Rep. Goolsby.
Yesterday afternoon I was running some errands for work and decided to try to vote.
I didn't know how crowded the polling places would be, or how long it might take. I usually like to vote on Election Day. There's something exciting about voting on that day, with millions of other people, that really makes you feel like you're part of the democratic process. This time for some reason, I wasn't going to take any chances. I wanted to take care of it early.
I drove by the Carver Library on Rosewood Avenue in East Austin. There was a parking place right out front, so I pulled in. I wasn't sure whether I went into the library or the museum, and there was a sign right there saying "vote in the library" so I walked into the library building.
Right inside a lady asked me if I was here to vote, and I said yes, and she guided me to the right room. There was no line. There were about 5 other people voting right then, but no one was waiting in line. I asked if there had been a lot of people voting today, and was told that many people were but that I just happened to be there during a lull. "Come back at 4:00 and we'll be packed," someone said.
The poll workers checked my registration card, confirmed my address, got me to sign on the dotted line and gave me the little slip that tells you what code to punch into the voting machine. I wasn't asked to show my driver's license.
About two minutes after I pulled up in my car, I was voting. No angst-ridden hand wringing at the voting machine for me - I knew how to operate the e-slate machine, and I knew who and what I was voting for (and against).
I completed my ballot, cast it, affixed my "I voted" sticker to my chest and, with a warm 'goodbye' from the polling place staffers and a 'thanks for what y'all do' from me to the poll workers, I was out the door and on my way to another errand. It couldn't have been easier, friendlier or more satisfying.
You can find your early voting location here: https://voterinfo.sos.state.tx.us/voterws/viw/faces/SearchSelectionPolling.jsp
This morning, national League of Conservation Voters released its 2008 National Environmental Scorecard. The scorecard discusses important environmental legislation in Washington and reports the votes of all members of the second session of the 110th Congress.
The Texas delegation, with rare exceptions, and to no one's surprise, ranked low on the scorecard, with our U.S. Senators earning scores of 18 (out of 100) apiece, and the House delegation averaging 33.
The bright spots: Three U.S. Reps. from Texas earned scores of 92 (the highest score of any Texan): Reps. Doggett, Gonzalez and E. B. Johnson.
The worst of the worst: Fifteen U.S. Reps. from the Lone Star State earned goose eggs - score of 0 for never voting for the environment at all: Reps. Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Culbertson, Granger, Hall, Marchant, Neugebauer, Paul, Poe, Sessions, Smith, and Thornberry.
For generations, Texas has been our nation's energy leader. But in 2008, the Texas delegation led our state and nation the wrong way. Instead of providing leadership for Texas' future energy economy, our state's leaders - with rare exceptions - sided time and again with outmoded and polluting energy industries. Frankly, I'm tired of seeing my state ranked at or near the bottom of these lists, and I think most Texans are, too.
When are our leaders going to stop listening to the big polluters that have made Texas' air quality among the worst in the nation, and start advancing common sense, renewable and clean solutions?
Read the scorecard to see how other leaders (from Texas and beyond) voted in this session of Congress.
www.lcv.org/scorecard
Keep up with the latest environmental news from the Texas League of Conservation Voters:
