Sierra Club Endorses in Orange County Board of Commissioners Races

The Sierra Club has issued its endorsements in the 2016 primary election. The endorsed candidates are:

• At Large: Mark Marcoplos
• District 1: Mark Dorosin, Penny Rich
• District 2: Renee Price

Here is the Sierra Club's press release:

The Orange-Chatham Sierra Club is proud to announce the endorsement of these candidates for the March 15, 2016 Orange County Commisioners election. 

            At-Large:  Mark Marcoplos 

            District One: Mark Dorosin and Penny Rich.

            District Two:  Renee Price                                              

           

The NC Sierra Club supports candidates with demonstrated knowledge of local environmental issues and content knowledge who will provide strong leadership on matters including conservation, water and land protection, growth, and transportation.  Because environmental issues are no longer simple, a systems approach to evaluating problems and solutions is needed; every issue should be considered through its whole life cycle, including its repercussions into many generations.  The Sierra Club knows that with the pressures of population and climate change, issues are complex and require careful evaluation and discussion.  Minimizing our carbon footprints and addressing resilience to climate change is critical.    We believe that these candidates are best qualified among the candidates running to fulfill these needs. 

 

At-Large:  Mark Marcoplos has extensive experience on county boards such as OWASA and Planning.  He has excellent positions on conserving energy and water, solid waste, toxics, recycling building materials, and transportation.  We believe that he will be an excellent member of the Board of County Commissioners.

 

District One:     Mark Dorosin and Penny Rich:

Penny Rich is an incumbent who is very engaged with  important issues that have come before the board with positions consistent with the Sierra Club on smart growth, light rail, and transit in general.  She is an active commissioner, serving as co-chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Group, chair of the Intergovernmental Parks Workgroup, and co-chair of the Rogers Road task force, as well as working on Hydrilla in local lakes and supporting the Lands Legacy program.

 

Mark Dorosin has also supported issues important to the Sierra Club, embracing working on reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through practices such as supporting light rail.   He cautiously supports the recent changes to the rural buffer, having a nuanced understanding of the necessity to advance economic growth while protecting farms. A great strength as a candidate is his attention to Orange County’s need to be responsible for its own solid waste while providing water and sewer services for the Rogers Road Community.   His use of his legal skills for environmental justice is impressive.

 

District Two:  Renee Price has significant and relevant education and experience in urban planning and sustainable agriculture. As a commissioner, she has worked to bring sewer access to the Rogers Road community.  She has also supported limitations on the use of pesticides, implementation of a means to eradicate hydrilla from the Eno River, restriction on development in stream buffers and watersheds, expansion of the Lands Legacy program, measures toward climate stabilization and the need to reduce our carbon footprint.  In addition, her positions on land use/development align closely with that of the Sierra Club.

 

Orange County is lucky to have so many good people of strong principle running for county commissioner, but these endorsed candidates have the best perspective and experience to meet environmental needs of Orange County.