Assemblywoman Buttenschon named 'Oil Slick' by climate organization
Assemblywoman Buttenschon named ‘Oil Slick’ by climate organization
Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, was named the 2025 “Oil Slick” in an announcement on Dec. 9th by Environmental Advocates Action (EAA), a 55-year-old environmental watchdog agency that states its mission to be to “advance strong environmental laws and hold decision makers accountable.”
For over 20 years, according to their statement, EAA in partnership with their “sister organization,” Environmental Advocates NY, has named an annual “Oil Slick” from among New York State’s legislators to call out a lawmaker who “has repeatedly voted against the environment and put the priorities of polluters ahead of public health.”
The watchdog organization also announced that New York State Senator Liz Krueger (D WF), representing “downstate’s” 28th district, as the 2025 EAA Legislator of the Year.
Where Krueger earned a perfect score of 100 on EAA’s “Environmental Scorecard,” Buttenschon was tangled in a three-way tie for chamber’s lowest score at 57.
Buttenschon’s overall response to the news of the designation was to share that she owns a 75 acre tree farm where her family plants thousands of trees annually.
“For every acre of Christmas trees growing, it generally provides enough oxygen for 18 people daily and absorbs about 500 pounds of CO2 while releasing 1000 pounds of fresh oxygen in exchange each year,” said Buttenschon, “making them an efficient air purifier and a renewable resource.”
Buttenschon disclosed she has never met with EAA.
New York State legislators subject to ‘Environmental Scorecard’
According to the EAA website, the environmental watchdog tracks the voting records of New York State lawmakers on “bills that could help or harm our air, land, and water” and publishes those records framed by annual “Environmental Scorecard.”
The full 2025 Environment Scorecard can be viewed here.
“Our scorecard helps shine a light,” said EAA Chief of Staff Danny Debare, “and give a quantitative evaluation to what can otherwise be a pretty murky process”
Scores are calculated by awarding legislators between 1 and 3 points for votes in support of bills ranked by EAA as 1, 2, or 3 “Tree Bills,” bills that the organization sees as benefitting the environment. Legislators earn between 1 and 3 points respectively for votes in support of bills rated by Environmental Advocates NY as 1, 2, or 3 “tree” bills.
Tree-rated bills are those that will benefit the environment. “Smokestack Bills,” those the organization considers harmful to the environment, are rated in kind. If a legislator misses more than 20% of votes on bills considered for the scorecard, they receive a score of “incomplete (INC).
Debare clarified that legislation considered “Tree-” or “Smokestack-” related are evaluated among all bills having moved through committee legislation that: 1. had a statewide environmental impact; 2. were subject to floor votes; and 3. Aligned with the priorities of EAA, including clean water, climate action, toxic chemical reduction, and environmental justice.
Buttenschon’s “Smokestack” record as considered by EAA
At the announcement of their two annual awardees, EAA Executive Director Vanessa Fajans-Turner tapped the two winners as representing “a tale of two chambers” to highlight a pro-climate culture in the New York State Senate, which consistently “sailed” “Tree” bills through, only for them to be “stalled,” often to a standstill in the Assembly.
EAA leaders accused Buttenschon of opposing the “Advanced Clean Trucks” (ACT) regulation, which was proposed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in Sep. 2021, and adopted Dec. 30 of that year. The regulation calls for the phasing in of zero-emission medium and large vehicles with a goal, according to the governor’s website, of “100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles offered for sale or lease, or sold, or leased, for registration in the State be zero-emission by 2045, where feasible.”
EAA calls out Buttenschon as the primary sponsor of bi-partisan bill A1073, which calls for a delay in the enforcement of the ACT rule.
The EAA leaders also noted that Buttenschon co-sponsors the “Rural Energy Freedom Act” (REFA), A2003, a bill whose primary sponsor is Assemblyman Robert Smullen (R 118) (now a congressional candidate running to represent New York’s 21st district), which seeks to amend the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” (CLCPA), A08429. to exempt the burning of wood for indoor and outdoor recreation, building heating, and cooking purposes from greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements.
According to EAA Deputy Executive Director Katie McNamara, the REFA seeks to spread misinformation about the CLCPA, known for short as New York’s “Climate Law,” which ambitiously aspires to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions in phases, with a goal, according to the state’s climate website, to “achieve net-zero emissions, increase renewable energy use, and ensure all communities equitably benefit in the clean energy transition.” The timeline targets an 85% reduction in carbon emissions in the state from 1990 standards by the year 2050.
The status of REFA is that it remains in committee in the New York State Assembly.
Buttenschon, Chair of the Assembly’s Small Business Committee, according to McNamara, now claims that businesses cannot thrive under CLCPA.
“Assemblywoman Buttenschon was one of the first voices to rally against the same bill that she sponsored and voted for just a couple of years ago,” asserted McNamara.
“The goals that CLCPA designates are goals that we must strive to achieve,” said Buttenschon. “However, currently we do not have the resources and infrastructure to support many of the goals.”
She noted that she will “always strive for a balance between a productive work community and a healthy environment.”
With regard to EAA’s framing of a “false choice” between clean energy and economic health, where leaders stated clean energy sources are now more affordable than fossil fuels, Buttenschon responded to say that the data she has from her district does not reflect that and she would be happy to consider any facts or evidence that show otherwise.
“I support the Rural Energy Freedom Act as it provides realistic exemptions” to CLCPA, said Buttenschon in response to the Dec. 9th public announcement, where REFA does not oppose CLCPA, but seeks to amend it to include such “realistic exemptions” as, for example, the burning of wood in outdoor firepits, etc., building heating in the form of wood-burning fires in residential fireplaces, and cooking purposes such as preparing food over a campfire.
The relevant language from the current version of REFA, section iv. is as follows:
“Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the burning of wood for the means of indoor and outdoor recreation, heating buildings and cooking or otherwise preparing food shall be excluded from any prohibitions or restrictions enacted as a result of compliance with the mandates of chapter one hundred six of the laws of two thousand nineteen, inclusive of any recommendations of any of such chapter’s derivative bodies.”
Buttenschon not only supported CLCPA, but co-sponsored it, stating around its passing in 2019, according to EAA, that “climate change is not something we can push off onto future generations.”
Buttenschon confirms those were her remarks and that they remain consistent with her position, which she supported when her office hosted a seminar with Dr. Aaron Strong, Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Hamilton College, to review realistic steps to a cleaner environment.
“Again,” said Buttenschon, “we must always strive to ensure our children and grandchildren have a clean environment.”
McNamara noted Buttenschon’s support of delaying the Advanced Clean Trucks rule as central to her designation as this year’s “Oil Slick,” calling the attempted stall “not only wrong,” but presenting a “dangerous false choice … between clean air and economic policy.”
Buttenschon, again, disagrees that the economics of the ACT represent a “false choice.” She responded to say that she seeks to delay the implementation of the ACT rule “until there is sufficient infrastructure in the state for Medium- and Heavy-Duty electric vehicles, and until the cost of those vehicles works for our small business owners (A.1073).”
“Currently, there is not sufficient infrastructure for Medium- and Heavy-Duty electric vehicles on public roadways,” said Buttenschon. “The cost of these electric vehicles are currently double the cost of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles on average.”
Buttenschon considered input from a local business owner in her district with 50 years of experience when she hosted the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.
“I will continue to support efforts to move towards a clean environment and cleaner energy,” said Buttenschon, “but we must be pragmatic with our decisions.”
Buttenschon has also sponsored the “Dollars for Diesels” program, (A.8998), which she said “would incentivize the retirement and replacement of older diesel vehicles with newer diesel models that are significantly cleaner and can help us achieve our emissions goals.”
Buttenschon believes this approach “balances environmental concerns with the realities on the ground.”
Said McNamara of Buttenschon’s position, “we cannot afford this kind of misleadership in a climate crisis.”