The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters has given State Sen. Derek Slap a score of 100 on its environmental scorecard.

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State Sen. Derek Slap (D-West Hartford) has scored a perfect 100 on the 2019 Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV) annual Environmental Scorecard, reflecting his effectiveness in leading passage of, and voting for, pro-environment legislation affecting Connecticut and its 3.57 million citizens – including his support of a statewide water plan that defines Connecticut’s waters as a “public trust.”

“One of the reasons why Connecticut is ranked as one of the best states to live in America, and one of the best states to raise a family in America, is because of our superb environment – and that’s the result of a lot of protection of our soil, air and water. It’s not by accident,” Slap said. “I work very closely with the environmental community in Connecticut to prioritize legislative action that is going to make a positive difference in our quality of life, like confirming that our state water plan views our water resources as a public trust – not just as some natural resource that can be exploited for private gain. That’s huge. Democrats will continue working hard to protect our quality of life here in Connecticut; next session I’d like to see the legislature take up bills concerning PFAS and teaching climate science in school.”

The CTLCV notes in the introduction to its annual scorecard that Democratic majorities in the House and Senate had a major impact on passing pro-environment legislation this year, and also on killing anti-environment bills like bear hunting and modifying environmental protection consent orders.

“The 2019 Legislative Session delivered many wins for the environment, including significant investment in offshore wind, the electrification of the state fleet, the passage of the State Water Plan, and much more,” the CTLCV report states.

“Because of our work during the last elections, we … sent a new pro-environment majority into Hartford. These new and returning champions were largely able to kill bad environmental bills like rollbacks to the Environmental Protection Act, automatic permits from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection after 90 days, and the revocation of DEEP’s enforcement tools. Many of these anti-environment proposals never even saw a vote. As a result, the vast majority of bills we scored were pro-environment proposals. This led to higher scores overall, evidence for the strong support for the environment within our legislature.”

The CTLCV grading scale ranges from 0-to-100 percent, and is based on how legislators vote on key environmental bills during the committee period of session and on the House and Senate floor. The final score is an average of their votes on specific pro-environment bills the CTLCV has picked. Absences and abstentions are not factored into the CTLCV’s grading system.

The legislative priorities included in the CTLCV’s scorecard cover a wide, diverse range of environmental concerns; 2019 victories include:

• State Water Plan – the plan enshrines Connecticut’s water as a public trust resource, and it provides guidelines for balancing the needs of development, conservation, recreation, and the environment.
• Invasive Species – a small fee on boat owners will help DEEP pay for programs to eradicate aquatic invasive species and cyanobacteria blooms, educate the public with outreach programs, and make grants to municipal agencies and nonprofits to conduct research
• Plastic Bag Ban – creates a 10-cent fee on single-use plastic bags until June 30, 2021, then bans them beginning July 1, 2021
• Fracking Waste Ban – permanently bans accepting, receiving, collecting, storing, treating, transferring, selling, acquiring, handling, applying, processing, and disposing of hydraulic fracking waste, natural gas waste, or oil waste in Connecticut.
• Offshore Wind – Establishes a process for DEEP  to solicit proposals from developers of offshore wind power facilities and to enter into long-term contracts.
• Solar Net-Metering – Extends some of Connecticut’s existing renewable energy programs to include the Green Bank’s Residential Solar Investment Program

A full copy of the 2019 Scorecard is available here.

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