2011 Legislator of the Year: Dave Upthegrove

Every year, Washington Conservation Voters honors one legislator for his or her outstanding leadership during the legislative session. This legislator is showcased in our Environmental Scorecard, published every two years.  In 2011, we are proud to name state Representative Dave Upthegrove (D-33, Des Moines) as the Legislator of the Year.

As Chair of the House Environment Committee, Rep. Upthegrove’s commitment to saving Puget Sound, ensuring a balanced transportation system, addressing global warming, and creating a clean energy economy was unparalleled in the Legislature.

Rep. Upthegrove championed the environment in a number of ways this session:

• Rep. Upthegrove led the effort to pass the environmental community Priority bill to responsibly transition Washington’s only coal-fired power plant off of coal. This is now a national model of how investing in the transition to a clean-energy future can create jobs and a healthy economy.
• Under Rep. Upthegrove’s leadership Clean Fertilizers - Healthier Lakes and Rivers, another 2011 environmental community Priority, was passed and signed into law. The bill manages the sale of phosphorus in yard fertilizer and provides a commonsense and cost-effective approach to keeping our lakes and rivers clean from phosphorous pollution, a particularly large problem in Eastern Washington.
  
• Rep. Upthegrove worked with diverse stakeholders to ensure I-937, the Citizen’s Clean Energy Initiative, was not weakened.  
• Rep. Upthegrove helped lead the effort to oppose any transportation fee package that did not have sufficient funding for transit and to clean up toxic runoff pollution.  The bill that ultimately passed the House did include these environmental priorities, due in large part to his leadership.
  
• When big business and certain local governments tried to take advantage of current economic times to roll-back environmental protections, Rep. Dave Upthegrove fended them off in the House Environmental Committee.
  

During a session where a number of industries directly attacked environmental protections, it was Rep. Dave Upthegrove who most ensured that our future and Washington families were safeguarded from such rollbacks.

Washington Conservation Voters and our members are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Rep. Dave Upthegrove to tackle the tough challenges we face from cleaning up Puget Sound to ensuring a clean energy economy.