Help OLCV choose pro-environment Legislative candidates

Although the 2008 primary is still 8 months away, we at OLCV are already gearing up by developing our endorsement questionnaire for the 2008 Legislative elections.

In the past, we have sought questions from environmental policy experts from around the state who work with the Legislature on various issues.

This year, in addition to this, we would like to hear from you. Post your question here about air or water quality, land use, toxics, transportation or any other environmental issue that you would like us to ask legislative candidates. We will choose 12-15 questions to create the questionnaire. You also can submit questions to katy@olcv.org.

Thank you for your help!

Questions should follow these guidelines:

1) The question should be relevant to actions that the legislator can take while in office or their personal stand on state issues (such as their vote for Measure 49).

2) Ideally we will ask questions that are directly relevant to legislation they will consider in 2009.

3) The question should solicit more than a yes or no response, but be focused enough to prevent a general answer.

4) In addition to learning from candidates, questionnaires are also a way to educate candidates. We often find it useful to begin each question with a one sentence fact that we think might educate the candidates.

Here are examples from our 2006 questionnaire:

Water Quality

Industrial pollution, containing untreated toxic chemicals, is currently being pumped into Oregon’s rivers and streams at dangerous levels. A loophole in existing law encourages polluters to dump untreated pollutants such as arsenic, lead, and mercury into Oregon’s rivers at levels known to be toxic to people and wildlife. This dumping creates toxic areas in our rivers known as toxic mixing zones. Some of these areas are as large as two football fields, yet state authorities do not warn the public where they are located - even within popular rivers such as the Willamette. The 2005 Legislature considered a bill to phase out the use of toxic mixing zones, but failed to act.

Would you support legislation in 2007 that phased out the use of toxic mixing zones?

Yes _______  No ________

Please briefly explain your response:

Toxics
Children are particularly vulnerable to exposures to toxic pollution. Childhood asthma is skyrocketing and diesel pollution is a known asthma trigger. Over 435 miles of Oregon waterways contain fish unsafe for people, especially pregnant women, to eat. These fish are contaminated with mercury, a known neurotoxin that can impact fetal development. Would you support efforts to ban or reduce by 30% the emissions of the top twelve most toxic chemicals in Oregon by 2010?

Yes _______ No ________

Please briefly explain your response: