Ardmore's State Legislators Earn Perfect Scores on Environment

Ardmore, evidently, knows the environment.

In the wake of the controversial omnibus Marcellus Shale bill Governor Tom Corbett signed into law on Feb. 14, environmental groups Conservation Voters of PA, Penn Environment, Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club distributed a scorecard grading environmental soundness of each state legislator’s voting record. By their reckoning, Ardmore’s legislators came out all aces.

Reps Tim Briggs (D-149) and Mike Gerber (D-148), and Senator Daylin Leach (D-17), each scored a 100 percent on the March 27 evaluation—voting in accordance with environmental principles in each of the eight discrete votes that led to the bill.

Of Montgomery County’s 23 state legislators, eight garnered perfect marks.

In a statement issued on his website, Gerber explained his votes in terms more pragmatic than environmentally conscious. He said he resented the power the bill gave the state over its component municipalities, and didn’t think Harrisburg had done enough to generate revenue from its natural gas supplies.

“I opposed the legislation and argued against it on the House floor because, among other reasons, the legislation stripped local zoning authority from municipalities, allowing the industry to run roughshod over communities,” he said, adding that “the law fails to implement a competitive, statewide extraction tax, allowing Pennsylvania to maintain the ignominious distinction of being the only major drilling state not to tax natural gas extraction.”

Supporters of natural gas extraction argue that the health risks posed to residents are overstated, and that the fuel is cheaper and cleaner than petrol.