Rep. Peterson recognized for conservation and environmental work

RUMFORD - Local State Rep. Matt Peterson was recognized recently by the Maine League of Conservation Voters for his work to improve conservation and environmental protection laws during the 2009 legislative session. Peterson earned a perfect 7-for-7 score on the MLCV's Environmental Scorecard.

The League, which rates all 186 state House and Senate lawmakers on their voting record for conservation issues, issues an annual legislative scorecard based on votes taken on specific and critical bills that have an impact on the state's natural resources.

This year's scorecard included positive votes on bills to increase clean water protections for a number of waterways in Maine; provide for safe collection of mercury-containing light bulbs; ensure that replacement culverts permit fish passage; and establish an Efficiency Trust to increase household and business weatherization, with a goal of weatherizing every home and business in the state by 2030.

Legislators also earned positive scores for voting against a bill that would have given power to a small group of private businesses to overhaul the state's regulatory system, and a bill that would have eliminated LURC in favor of county management of Maine's unorganized territories.

The Maine League of Conservation Voters has tracked and reported legislators' voting records on key environmental issues since 1986. To view the entire scorecard, with bill summaries and a full list of honor roll and dishonor roll members for 2009, visit http://www.mlcv.org/ and click on "2009 Maine House and Senate Scorecards" on the right-side column.