Steve Englebright reflects on three decades of environmental advocacy

Steven Englebright spent 30 years in the State Assembly advocating for environmental causes and was one of the earliest champions of preserving the Pine Barrens. But he counts his last three years in office among the most impactful.

Englebright is leaving office after losing his election in November.

A geologist and educator by trade, Englebright said the productive endcap of his tenure began with the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, which seeks to end New York’s reliance on fossil fuels. The legislation sets a goal of generating 70% of the state’s energy through renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2040. The law is particularly important because New York sets the example for other states, he said.

“The overarching challenge of our time is to set a standard for our sister states and other nations, for grappling with the emissions from combustion from the burning of fossil fuels,” Englebright, 76, said during a recent interview at his Setauket office. “And to move away from that as our primary energy source and to literally clean up our act before we reached a tipping point from which there is no return.”

Englebright, a Democrat who had served northeastern Brookhaven Town, including Stony Brook, Setauket and Port Jefferson, in the Assembly since 1992, lost to first-time Republican challenger Ed Flood by about 700 votes in the election on Nov. 8.

Flood, an assistant Brookhaven Town attorney, benefited from Long Island’s red wave and having Lee Zeldin of Shirley at the top of the gubernatorial ticket, said Jesse Garcia, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Party. Garcia said that to voters, it appeared Englebright was only focused on the environment during the campaign and not on crime or inflation.

“The first order of business is protecting and providing public safety to your citizenry to your residents,” Garcia said. “And that's where Steve Englebright failed.”

Englebright countered that he also advocated to secure funding for repaving the Long Island Expressway and for schools. He also noted he was one of the earliest proponents of revising the state’s bail reform law.

Environmental committee chair

Englebright, who served as chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee since 2015, said he has lost count of his legislative victories.

Two years after the climate bill, Englebright sponsored the so-called green amendment to the state constitution, which enshrined the right to a clean environment for New Yorkers. It was approved by voters in 2021.

The following year, he pushed for the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act to fund climate-related projects. It passed in November with 67.62% voter approval.

Long before that, he protested the opening of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. While serving in the Suffolk County Legislature, he advocated for voter adoption of the Drinking Water Protection Program, which uses a quarter-percent sales tax to fund open space preservation and more. 

In 1993, early in his tenure in the state, he was instrumental in the passage of the Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act, which regulated development in the 100,000-acre Central Pine Barrens Region. 

“He was talking about it [the Pine Barrens] in the early 1980s, long before any other public official,” said Peter Scully, a former regional director of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and a deputy Suffolk County executive. “The ultimate passage of the Pine Barrens Protection Act is something that is part of his legacy that will be recognized for generations, because it will help to make sure we have an adequate supply of pure drinking water for the future.”

Longtime colleague Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor) was Southampton town supervisor when the law passed. Thiele, who with Englebright played weekly basketball games at the State Police Academy in Albany during their tenure, said Englebright was able to translate the technical reasoning for preserving the region into legislative terms.

A background in science

“He had the scientific background that we needed to justify why the Pine Barrens Act was important,” Thiele said. “He put the science in political science.”

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said no one has left a greater legacy of land protection on Long Island.

“When we would go to him with protection and restoration ideas, he immediately gets it,” she said. “Other legislators many times need to be convinced, cajoled. But he became a partner instead of a blockade.”

A respect for the environment was instilled by his grandfather, a vegetable farmer in Evansville, Indiana, and through his participation in the Boy Scouts, he said.

His educational background is in the natural sciences, but he is also devoted to preserving historic sites, which in his district include a plaque installed last fall and funded in part with state money at the Patriots Rock site in Setauket. He can speak at length about the Setauket connection to the Culper Spy Ring just as easily as the Island’s geohydrology.

“He appears to be low-key, but there's a passion that burns inside of Steve about these issues,” Thiele said.

Englebright, who lives in Setauket with his wife Sue Meyers, a Setauket fire commissioner, said he will continue to lobby on environmental issues, including legislation requiring manufacturers to take responsibility for recycling their products, as well as historic preservation. He did not rule out another run for public office.

“I may be leaving this office, but I'm certainly going to continue to be involved,” he said. “I'm going to continue to be a voice for advocating for preservation and protection of the essential resources that define who we are.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.