New York's 23rd District
 
2001 LCV environmental rating = 86%                           106th LCV environmental rating = 70%
Lifetime LCV environmental rating = 81% 

In his twenty years serving New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Representative Sherwood Boehlert has proven himself a leading champion of clean air, clean water, land conservation, and efficient energy use. Due to redistricting, Rep. Boehlert will be running for re-election this fall in the newly created 24th Congressional District.

Each year, the League of Conservation Voters compiles the National Environmental Scorecard that rates members of Congress on the year’s most important environmental votes. Rep. Boehlert consistently scores in the top tier of Republicans in the House of Representatives, with a lifetime rating of 81 percent.  With his view that “meaningful environmental legislation may be our single most important legacy,” he has consistently lived up to this ideal as a Member of Congress and as Chair of the House Science Committee, the only pro-environment full committee chair in the House.   

Sherry Boehlert is an Environmental Champion.

Farm Conservation
Conserving our nation’s farm lands is vital to keeping our water clean, preserving our open spaces, maintaining local sources of nutritious food, and protecting wildlife habitat.  Farm programs to conserve wildlife, preserve wetlands, and that set aside marginal farmland are popular with landowners, but suffer from a lack of funding and many who try to enroll in them are turned away.  Last year, Rep. Boehlert co-sponsored an amendment to the 2001 House farm bill to provide $5.4 billion a year for agricultural conservation programs over the next 10 years.   

Fuel Economy & Energy Policy
America’s cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and other light trucks consume 40 percent of US oil consumption a day and emit 20 percent of America’s carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global climate change.  Under the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards that have been in place for 20 years, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks are required to meet a standard of only 20.7 miles per gallon, as opposed to the 27.5 miles per gallon standard for cars.  This light truck loophole has led to a significant increase in both oil demand and carbon dioxide emissions.  

During consideration of the House energy bill, Rep. Boehlert co-sponsored an amendment to increase CAFE standards by closing the light-truck loophole.  His plan would have combined light trucks and cars into one fleet and required them to meet a 27.5 miles per gallon average by 2007.  This step would have saved 1 million barrels of oil per day and slashed carbon dioxide emissions.  

As Chairman of the House Science Committee, Rep. Boehlert drafted a portion of the House energy bill that balanced energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy with traditional sources of energy.  However, when the entire energy package went to the House floor, Rep. Boehlert bucked his party leadership, as he has previously, and voted against final passage of the comprehensive energy package due to the anti-environment impacts of other parts of the bill.

Clean Air
Early in Rep. Boehlert’s political career, he and many of his neighbors in central New York became concerned about the devastation of the nearby Adirondack Mountains and lakes caused by acid rain.  In his first congressional campaign in 1982, he pledged to take a leadership role to resolve the problem.  In 1990 he co-authored amendments to the Clean Air Act that significantly reduced acid rain-causing emissions generated by power plants. 

In 1999, Rep. Boehlert introduced a comprehensive acid rain bill to reduce the damage to lakes and woods in the Adirondacks from sources not already covered by the Clean Air Act. He also co-authored legislation to crack down on polluting ‘grandfathered’ power plants that are not in full compliance with the Clean Air Act. 

The District
Located in central New York’s Mohawk Valley, the 23rd Congressional District includes the cities of Utica and Rome in Oneida County and sparsely settled counties to the south.  Containing the most heavily Italian and Polish-American communities in central New York, the district leans marginally Republican.  Due to the district’s acid rain concerns, voters tend to support pro-environment policies.  

Due to late redistricting in New York and the loss of two congressional seats in the state, Rep. Boehlert will run for re-election in the newly created 24th Congressional District. The new district includes all or parts of Broome, Chenango, Herkimer, Otsego, Tioga, Tompkins, Seneca, Cortland, Cayuga, Ontario, and Oneida counties.  He expects to face a conservative primary opponent in September.