Sierra Club Announces Primary Endorsements
Alexandria City Council candidates Del Pepper, Paul Smedberg, Donna Fossum, Sean Holihan, Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson all receive nods from the Mount Vernon Group of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club.
The Mount Vernon Group of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club announced its endorsement of six candidates for Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Alexandria City Council.
Incumbent Del Pepper picked up a nod from the group for her “strong environmental record working with the Sierra Club on local issues,” according to a press release sent out Wednesday.
Incumbent Paul Smedberg also picked up an endorsement based on the answers to completed questionnaires and interviews with the executive committee of the Mount Vernon Group, as did candidates Donna Fossum, Sean Holihan, Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson.
The questionnaire considered candidates’ views on the group’s environmental priorities for Alexandria, such as promoting walking, bicycling and transit use and promoting clean energy options. It also asked for the candidates’ opinions on issues like the Beauregard Small Area Plan, the redevelopment of the city’s waterfront and the Potomac Yard Metro station.
Pepper, Smedberg, Lovain and Wilson have all been endorsed by the Mount Vernon Group in the past. Pepper, Lovain and Wilson are Sierra Club members.
The Sierra Club noted the work of Pepper and Smedberg in getting GenOn to agree to close its Potomac River Generating Station in October.
Robert Pringle
3:14 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012
The Sierra Club should be thoroughly ashamed of itself for endorsing a slate of candidates for Alexandria City Council all of whom have favored or tolerated BRAC, the City's challenged Waterfront Plan, and Beauregard. Of all organizations, the Sierra Club should realize the long-term damage that is done by unrelenting promotion of high density development. We are told that all the candidates favor walking, bicycling, transit use and clean energy. Who doesn't? It's what they have done and will do that matters. And that is clear from the record.
I speak as a member of the Sierra Club for more than twenty-five years. Ambassador Robert Pringle (retired), former Director of the Office of Terrestrial Conservation in the Bureau of Oceans and International Scientific and Environmental Affairs, US Department of State.