Even though New Mexico voters last year elected several new environmentalist lawmakers, an advocacy group said Tuesday, state Senate leaders were able to push through an "unprecedented number of the most extreme anti-conservation bills."

In their 2009 Legislative Scorecard, Conservation Voters New Mexico said Senate leaders stacked the Senate Conservation Committee — which deals with environmental bills — with senators "openly hostile to environmental protection."

That is only one example of how Senate leaders used the committee process and legislative maneuvers, the report says.

"It is abundantly clear that the composition of many critical Senate committees has dramatically shifted power to special interests — to those industries that advocate de-regulation and increased exploitation of natural resources," the report says.

"In the end, the House of Representatives was forced to defeat attacks on our environment launched by the Senate. Fortunately, for the most part, the House held the line and chose clean air and water over exploitation of our Land of Enchantment."

Senate President Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, on Tuesday denied that he purposely put anti-environmentalists on the Conservation Committee. "That's just silly," he said in a phone interview. He said he tried to give senators the committee assignments they wanted and tried to maintain a geographic balance.

Jennings noted that most Democrats on the Conservation Committee backed Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa — and not Jennings — in the selection of the Senate president pro-tem.

He also said that the legislative goals of Conservation Voters of New Mexico aren't supported in rural parts of the state.

Sandy Buffett, executive director of Conservation Voters, pointed out that the average score for members of the Senate Conservation Committee fell by 24 percentage points from last year to this year. The scores are based on several votes on specific pieces of legislation dealing with environmental protection, wildlife, growth and health issues.

After freshman Sen. Steve Fischmann, D-Las Cruces, who scored 100 percent, the Conservation Committee member with the highest score was Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, who scored 46 percent on the CVNM scorecard. The average score for committee members was 32 percent.

Examples of "attacks on our environment" by the Senate cited in the CVNM report include SB732, a bill which would have required state agencies to gives applicants for licenses, including environmental permits, exact time frames for issuing the license. The state Environmental Department and other agencies said the bill would prove expensive and would impair the state's ability to process applications. CVNM argued the bill would cripple the enforcement of environmental regulations.

"From a conservation perspective, this appeared to be a calculated attempt to keep the public from weighing in on this grave threat to their families and their quality of life," the CVNM report says. The Senate passed the bill 20-12, but it died in a House committee.

Two Santa Fe legislators — Sen. Peter Wirth and Rep. Brian Egolf, both Democrats, received 100 percent scores. Rep. Jeanette Wallace of Los Alamos, who had a score of 63 percent, was the highest-ranking Republican on the 2009 scorecard.

Of the others in the Santa Fe-area delegation, all Democrats, Sen. Nancy Rodriguez scored 83 percent; Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela had 75 percent, House Speaker Ben Luján received a 60 percent rating; Rep. Jim Trujillo got 56 percent; and Sen. Phil Griego received a 20 percent rating.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.

ON THE WEB

• Download Conservation Voters New Mexico's 200 Legislative Scorecard at www.cvnm.org/

HOW THEY SCORED

Here is how local legislators rated on the Conservation Voters New Mexico 2009 Legislative Scorecard released Tuesday:

Santa Fe-area legislators:

• Rep. Brian Egolf, 100 percent
• Sen. Peter Wirth, 100 percent
• Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, 83 percent
• Rep. Lucky Varela, 75 percent
• Rep. Jeannette Wallace, 63 percent
• House Speaker Ben Luján, 60 percent
• Rep. Jim Trujillo 56 percent
• Sen. Phil Griego 20 percent

Senate Conservation Committee

• Sen. Steve Fischmann, D-Las Cruces, 100 percent
• Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, 46 percent
• Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, 41 percent
• Sen. David Ulibarri, D-Grants, 38 percent
• Sen. Bernadette M. Sanchez, D-Albuquerque (chairwoman), 36 percent
• Sen. Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, 27 percent
• Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, 20 percent
• Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, 15 percent