According to
Greenopia -- which bills itself as a guide to green living -- Gov. Jim Douglas is the eighth greenest governor.
Check it out or continue reading. That's not because of the algae/moss growth spurred by all the rain or the fact that Vermont is home to Green Mountains.
"We looked at all 50 governors in the US and compared their policies, transparency, and interest group rating and ranked them. It was a monumental task," said Doug Mazeffa, Greenopia's director of research. "People want to know which governors are the econ-leaders or laggards and especially identify those making repeated eco-gaffes."
Greenopia explains the basis for the rankings -- which suggests to me some weakness in research. Measuring politicians' accomplishments from their own web sites? Oh my.
Greenopia wrote, "Data for this study was collected from each governor's own web pages and cross-checked against credible sites such as VoteSmart and OnTheIssues. Energy and emission data was collected from the Department of Energy and the environmental platform data for each political party was collected from either the DNC or RNC's main site.
"Over the past few years we have begun to see certain states emerging as environmental leaders," remarked Gay Browne, Greenopia founder and CEO. "Those states enacting environmental laws stricter than federal guidelines have gone to greater lengths to protect the environment and to create more sustainable development, including green jobs."
Browne talks about states "enacting" laws -- which certainly involves legislators, so I'm sure some of them would take issue with giving any governor all the credit. It takes two branches of government to tango -- except when legislatures override gubernatorial vetoes.
Douglas was credited for undertaking "several programs to make Vermont greener. These include the Clean and Clear Water Action Plan, biofuel initiatives and programs aimed at making the state government greener. Vermont also has tax incentives in place to help consumers and businesses go green."
"As governor, I will continue to do all I can to advance our efforts to clear up impaired waterways, reduce our carbon footprint with tough automobile emissions standards and encourage green jobs in our state," Douglas said.
Who were the top ten governors?
1. Bill Ritter of Colorado
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California
3. Ted Kulongowski of Oregon
4. Christine Gregoire of Washington
5. John Baldacci of Maine
6. Martin O'Malley of Maryland
7. Bill Richardson of New Mexico
8. JIM DOUGLAS OF VERMONT
9. Jon Corzine of New Jersey
10. Jodi Rell of Connecticut
Who was number 50? Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal of Louisiana. Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska ranked 48.
-- Nancy Remsen
