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San Diego Officials Score Well on Environmental Report Card

By Ed Joyce / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published February 27, 2009 at 3:45 AM PST
This story was published more than 15 years ago.

A coalition of environmental groups say city and county elected officials got passing grades for their votes in 2008. But the city scored higher than the county on the environmental report cards as KP

San Diego Officials Score Well on Environmental Report Card

A coalition of environmental groups say city and county elected officials got passing grades for their votes in 2008. But the city scored higher than the county on the environmental report cards as KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce explains.
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(Photo: Environmental Groups Grade San Diego’s Elected Officials. Ed Joyce/KPBS )

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Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Coastkeeper, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters graded the elected officials on their voting records and actions on environmental issues.

Scott Harrison with the Surfrider Foundation says the 2008 report is a first for the county supervisors.

Harrison: The report assesses supervisors on their actions and decisions related to issues impacting not only water quality but land use, air quality and renewable energy. The calculated final result is that the county supervisor's average grade came in at a solid 'C' grade.

Supervisors Greg Cox and Pam Slater-Price scored  B- grades, Dianne Jacob got a C and Ron Roberts and Bill Horn received C-minus grades.

Harrison says key environmental issues the county must deal with this year include border sewage from Tijuana, water conservation and programs to control urban runoff pollution.

The city report card considered the voting records of San Diego City Council members and Mayor Jerry Sanders' performance on water quality issues and coastal habitat.

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Bruce Reznik of San Diego Coastkeeper says the overall B+ grade for the 2008 council included a critical vote on water recycling.

Reznik: The landmark vote was moving ahead on the pilot program for water recycling, the IPR project. They voted to approve the project, they had to override a mayoral veto and then ultimately voted to fund the project. And I think that's something that can really leave a legacy for San Diego, of decreased discharge of sewage to the ocean and enhancing our local water supplies.

Current Councilmembers Donna Frye and Ben Hueso received 'A' grades while Tony Young and Kevin Faulconer scored 'C's.  Mayor Sanders received a B+.

Despite the high marks, Reznik says there were a few disappointments including a council vote to deny an additional environmental  review of the Navy Broadway Complex.
 
Reznik says issues the city council should consider this year include water recycling and a ban on plastic grocery bags.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

 

Ed Joyce
Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.
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