LCV Names Rick Perry to the Inaugural State-Level Dirty Dozen
August 31st, 2010
Rick Perry one of Twelve Dirtiest Candidates for State Office to be Targeted for Defeat
Austin – Today, the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, announced the inaugural state-level Dirty Dozen program. Rick Perry is one of 12 candidates for state office from around the country named to the list for his consistent stances against clean energy politics and conservation initiatives. The Texas League of Conservation Voters will work to defeat Rick Perry during the remaining months of the election cycle.
“Rick Perry has consistently put corporate polluters and other special interests ahead of protecting our natural resources and working to make Texas a leader in the new clean energy economy,” said David Weinberg, Executive Director of the Texas League of Conservation Voters. “Being named to the Dirty Dozen should put Rick Perry on notice; voters in Texas won’t stand for a Governor who fails to fight for a cleaner, healthier future.”
In 2006…Governor Perry tried to fast-track permits for eleven new, dirty coal plants, adding to the risk of asthma and premature death.
In 2009…Perry vetoed a bill passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature which would have required television manufactures to recycle their product, keeping toxic heavy metals from reaching Texas landfills.
Perry’s anti-environmental record has peaked in 2010. Just this year:
…Perry called the BP oil spill an “Act of God,” instead of calling for better regulation of off-shore drilling
…..Perry’s Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) dragged its feet on shuttering the highly polluting Asarco smelter in El Paso, and is green-lighting a toxic-waste dump near Odessa over the objections and resignation of agency staff
…Perry and his appointed commissioners at TCEQ have waged a legal and political war against the federal Environmental Protection Agency because it is finally requiring polluters in Texas to follow the same laws that all other 49 states are following
The full list of state-level Dirty Dozen candidates can be found at http://www.lcv.org/statedirtydozen.
“From Congress to the state house there has never been a more urgent time to defeat politicians who stand with Big Oil and block progress on clean energy reform,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “With the U.S. Senate’s recent failure to act on comprehensive energy and climate legislation, we need strong environmental leaders at the state level to move the ball forward on new energy policies that will put America on the path to a clean energy future.”
LCV’s trademark Dirty Dozen program targets candidates for Congress — regardless of party affiliation — who consistently vote against clean energy and conservation and are running in races in which LCV has a serious chance to affect the outcome. Since 1996, more than 60 percent of the federal candidates named to Dirty Dozen have been defeated. Today’s announcement marks the first time LCV has named a state-level Dirty Dozen consisting of gubernatorial and state legislative candidates.
For a list of federal candidates named to the 2010 Dirty Dozen, visit http://www.lcv.org/dirtydozen.