Local Maryland legislators earned the highest scores in the state on the Maryland League of Conservation Voters’ annual environmental scorecard.
The scorecards, which will be released online Tuesday, grade legislators on their stance on environmental issues.
The grade is determined through how a legislator votes on particular bills that “tell the story of when it’s a hard choice to vote to protect the environment,” said Jen Brock-Cancellieri, deputy director of the league.
Delegates from the D.C. area garnered a 97 percent score average, in comparison with the House of Delegates’ overall 69 percent average.
The Senate came in just a tad lower. Local senators received an 88 percent average, and the Senate as a whole had a rating of 63 percent.
Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, Prince George’s Democrat, was one of the eight senators to earn 100 percent ratings.
More than 30 delegates were awarded perfect scores, including Delegate Heather Mizeur, Montgomery County Democrat. She led a push for legislation to increase safeguards and penalties for contamination caused by drilling for oil in Western Maryland’s Marcellus shale layer. The legislation passed the House but did not make it out of the Senate.
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