North Haven Legislators Environmentally Friendly, Report Shows

Both State Senator Len Fasano and State Representative David Yaccarino scored well on this year's Environmental Scorecard issued by the CT League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV). 

Designed to give constituents a sense of how their elected officials performed in regards to issues like clean water, energy reform, conservation, and farmland preservation, the scorecard ranked CT's legislators on a scale from 0% to 100% based on their votes pertaining to environmentally-pertinent bills. 

According to the report's calculations, Fasano scored an 83% for his support of a measure to ban toxic BPA's in in thermal paper receipts, a bill establishing a paint stewardship program, and a host of other environmentally friendly laws. 

Yaccarino, meanwhile, garnered an 80% rating for voting in favor of a bill authorizing the transfer of state-owned land in Haddam, purchased for conservation purposes, to a  private developer, among others. 

Absences and abstentions were not factored into the scores. Fasano voted on six of the twelve bills identified by the CTLCV. Yaccarino participated in five. 

Summing up the legislative class as a whole, the CTLCV was optimistic about the body's regard for the environment.

"Our legislators’ environmental voting records scored lower than in recent years," wrote David Bingham, Democratic Chair of the League, and G. Kenneth Bernhard, Republican Chair. "However, major disappointments were few, such as the Haddam land swap process, the failure to act on the Community Green Fund bill, and the bill to require adequate river buffers."

"In view of the budget crisis, the legislature did well to hold the line on many environmental protections and funding, while providing new policy for energy conservation and control of toxins," concluded the group. "As of this writing, the Council on Environmental  Quality, which provides oversight and research functions, appears to have escaped the budget axe again"

The full scorecard is attached to this article as a PDF, and can also be viewed on CTLCV's website.