Washington Conservation Voters calls Sen. Ranker “emerging environmental leader”

The Washington Conversation Voters are saying that our own 40th district Sen. Kevin ranker, D-San Juan Island, is an “emerging environmental leader” in the release of their 2010 Legislative Scorecard.

The scorecard takes a look at how all members of the state House and Senate voted on various environmental bills on the radar of the WCV.

40th and 42nd district legislators had a very, very mixed bag when it came to their scores, but Ranker scored higher than any other local politician, with a 91 out of 100 rating.

Said the WCV:

Senator Ranker came to the Senate steeped in knowledge of ocean and shorelines policy and with a demonstrated commitment to the environment. In 2010, he was the prime sponsor of a successful bill to eliminate copper brake pads in order to protect the health of our waterways. Senator Ranker also helped craft the deal that ensured passage of the Safe Baby Bottle Act in 2010. He is an emerging environmental leader in Olympia.

Meanwhile, 42nd Sen. Dale Brandland, R-Whatcom County, received a score of 40. His lifetime score, according to the WCV information, is a 43 percent. Brandland got his score by voting in favor of the Safe Baby Bottle Act as well as an amendment that would have continued tax exemptions for machinery and equipment used on renewable energy projects. Brandland may or may not have had a higher score, but he was absent for votes on two items.

In the House, 42nd district Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, was one of many Republicans who received just an 11 percent score. Basically all Republicans who received that score earned it by voting against every single environmentally-friendly proposal except for the Safe Baby Bottle Act, which Ericksen and the others did vote in favor of.

Rep. Kelli Linville had the next-lowest score for local legislators at 67 percent (she has a lifetime score of 71, so she’s pretty in line with her average). She received that score by voting in favor of six of the nine environmentally-friendly proposals in the state House. She voted against a proposal to increase the hazardous substance tax, which many legislators in the 40th and 42nd opposed because the tax would hit petroleum products and there were concerns about how that tax increase might impact local refinery jobs in Whatcom and Skagit counties. She also voted against the JOBS Act, which was designed to retrofit public facilities to reduce energy costs. That measure would have allowed the state to issue about $861 million in general obligation bonds for the projects, and liberal Democrats argued it would be a job stimulus package. Other officials, however, like Linville, argued that the state couldn’t afford the debt.

40th Reps. Jeff Morris and Dave Quall, both Mount Vernon Democrats, received equally-high scores of 89. Both voted in favor of nearly every environmentally-friendly project except for, like Linville and Ericksen, the hazardous substance tax increase due to the concern about refinery jobs in their district.