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Chautauqua County and much of the rest of Western New York is blessed with beautiful, healthy natural resources. Things aren't perfect, there are scars, but overall our forests, fields, streams, and lakes are a huge asset. It was Henry Thoreau who said, "Of what use is a fine house if you haven't a tolerable planet to put it on?" Thoreau is questioning the value of human material possessions, like a luxurious house, if the natural environment around us is ruined. A local example is the fine houses surrounding Chautauqua Lake that are suffering the consequences of past and current abuse of our lake. Our environment is not 'out there' to be used, exploited, or ignored but is integral to a healthy society. It is the foundation upon which our homes, our lives, and our livelihoods are built. Keeping it at least 'tolerable' is everyone’s responsibility.
We transfer some, but not all, of that responsibility to our representatives in the assembly, senate, and governor's mansion. We choose how tolerable we want to keep our environment and our communities by how we vote. For the past 50 years, the Environmental Advocates NY (EANY) have watched and measured our elected representatives on how they have voted on legislation that affects the natural wealth of New York state.
In recent years, special-interest lobbying spending in New York has ballooned. The American Chemistry Council, ExxonMobil, National Fuel, and some of the biggest companies and trade groups in America pay lobbyists to petition lawmakers directly to influence their vote, make campaign contributions to those who vote in their favor, and run media campaigns to influence public opinion. They work to get legislators to vote in favor of their interests, which often conflicts with the public interest. The Environmental Advocates New York (EANY) creates an annual scorecard on how each legislator voted on bills and scores them on whether they voted in the public or corporate interest. The 2026 scorecard is not kind to our representatives from Chautauqua county.
Andrew Molitor has an environmental score of 17. The average Assembly score was 59. Of the 150 members of the NY Assembly, Mr. Molitor was tied for the 3rd lowest. He failed to vote on both the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and the Prohibiting PFAS in Consumer Products Act. He voted against the Datacenter Moratorium Act. Of the 19 bills measured in the scorecard, he failed to register a vote on four of them, voted against environmental concerns on eleven, and for bills favorable to a healthy environment only four times. Mr. Molitor never opposed an action, agreement, or vote with a policy outcome that could cause widespread damage - eroding hard-won protections, setting back progress, and creating disastrous long-term environmental consequences, according to EANY.
Unfortunately, Senator George Borrello's environmental record is worse. Of the 63 senators, Mr. Borrello was the second worst with a score of 26. The average senate score was 75. Of the 31 senate bills measured by EANY, Mr. Borrello voted for environmental concerns 10 times, for corporate and against environmental concerns 18 times, and failed to register a vote on 3. Like Assemblyman Molitor, Senator Borrello never opposed an action, agreement, or vote with a policy outcome that could cause widespread damage to the environment of New York. Senator Borrello also voted against the one year moratorium on building datacenters.
Governor Hochul was not included in the Environmental Advocates NY scorecard but in my view, has a very mixed environmental record. Likewise, Congressman Nick Langworthy was not included in the EANY scorecard but his environmental record is measured by the League of Conservation Voters. They have given him a dismal score of 0 in their latest scorecard and a 2% rating lifetime.
We can see from our current experience of restoring Chautauqua Lake to a healthy state that it is much easier and less costly to prevent environmental degradation than to repair it. Every environmental scientist and every environmental organization understands this. The vast majority of the NY Assembly, the NY Senate, and the US House of Representatives demonstrate a greater respect for caring for our environment. Most of the world's great religions share a fundamental concept of caring for and protecting the earth and all of its inhabitants, often framed as sacred stewardship. The voters in Chautauqua County are long overdue in voting for representatives who share this sacred trust.
Tom Meara is a Jamestown resident.