There’s more bad news for anti-environmental legislator Tim Moffitt, plus more news, this week in CIB.

Campaign Watch: Moffitt Named to the List No One Wants to Make

NCLCV and its national partner League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced today that NC Representative Tim Moffitt of Buncombe County has been named to the “Dirty Dozen in the States” list of the most anti-environmental state legislators and governors.

Moffitt earned a score of 0% on NCLCV’s 2013 Conservation Scorecard, and has a lifetime NCLCV score of only 10%. This means that in 2013 he cast not a single pro-environment vote on any bill or amendment decision scored by NCLCV, and has consistently performed extremely poorly. Moffitt has pushed highly controversial legislation to strip management of water resources away from the City of Asheville, voted to roll back other key environmental protections, consistently supported fast-track fracking, and backed weak coal ash protections.

“North Carolinians deserve representation from someone who will put the public’s interest ahead of corporate polluters,” said Dan Crawford, NCLCV Director of Governmental Relations. “Time and again, Rep. Moffitt has sided with special interests. Western North Carolina needs someone who instead will work to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe.”

Last week, CIB reported that Moffitt was one of three mountain legislators targeted by an independent expenditure effort from NCLCV. NCLCV’s full news release with links to two connected television ads can be watched here.

Washington Watch: Supremes Reject Appeal of EPA Ozone Rule

The U.S. Supreme Court last week turned down an industry group request to consider striking down stronger limits on ozone air pollution. By declining to hear the industry appeal, the Court left in place the July 2013 decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold the EPA standard.

The EPA ozone pollution control rule now upheld is the modest tightening of ozone limits first approved late in the Bush Administration. Industry and environmental groups made conflicting arguments that those rules were either too strict or too lenient. In any event, due to last week’s Supreme Court decision, the standard on ozone at least won’t get any weaker.

Since the time these rules were issued by EPA – and immediately attacked from both sides – the most intense debate has largely moved on to particulate pollution standards and limits on greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

Coast Watch: McCrory, Oil Industry Pitch Offshore Drilling in Wilmington

Gov. Pat McCrory last week shared the stage with a leading oil and gas industry representative at the “Coastal Energy Summit” in Wilmington. Both McCrory and American Petroleum Industry (API) president Jack Gerard waxed enthusiastic about the prospects for drilling off North Carolina’s environmentally sensitive coastline.

McCrory also envisioned big bucks flowing into state and local coffers from fees on the drilling, despite the fact that the targeted areas are primarily in federal waters, from which fees now go to the (increasingly stressed) federal programs.

The McCrory/API viewpoint was not the only one represented in town that day. Protestors both in and outside the meeting hall condemned the call for offshore drilling, and bemoaned McCrory’s record on other water quality issues like fracking.

However, even his critics can hardly accuse McCrory of inconsistency on these issues. To conservationist observers, it appears that if the oil industry wants it, McCrory is for it.

Climate Change Update: Faith Groups Sponsor Climate Change Conference

A coalition of faith-based and environmental groups is sponsoring a conference today entitled, “North Carolina Conference on Religion and Climate Change.” This event brings to North Carolina a developing national consensus between many liberal and conservative faith groups that conservation – or “creation care” – is a shared responsibility for people of religious faith. These groups have particularly targeted the need to address the broad-ranging impacts of climate change.

The North Carolina Religious Coalition on Creation Care is a leading sponsor of the event, taking place today (Monday, October 13), from 10 am to 3 pm, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 121 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh. Among the other sponsors are Appalachian Voices, Triangle Interfaith Alliance, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and others. Preregistration is not required. Additional information is available here.

That’s our report for this week.