The Sierra Club's grassroots volunteer activists considered candidates' records, reviewed responses to our questionnaire, and interviewed those willing to meet with us. Our list of those we have endorsed in Long Island races is below. If you'd like to get involved in one of the races in your area, reach out to the campaign today! Contacts for each campaign can be found here. 
 

          SIERRA CLUB RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES FOR 2025

​

​

​

Nassau County

 

Seth Koslow (Dem.) – Nassau County Executive:  Koslow is an attorney and former New York City prosecutor who is now serving his first term in the Nassau County Legislature.  He believes that protecting Nassau County’s single-source aquifer, which supplies all of its drinking water and is under threat from multiple sources, is the most important environmental issue confronting the County.  In the County Legislature he helped to secure vital resources for water purification upgrades in Hempstead Village and, as County Executive, he will work with Federal and State agencies to secure additional resources for water purification infrastructure and acceleration of the ongoing remediation work on the toxic ground water plume at the former U.S. Navy / Grumman industrial facility in Bethpage.  He will also promote legislative and public awareness initiatives that facilitate water conservation and more thoughtful use of pesticides and fertilizers that contribute to ground water pollution.   Koslow strongly supports the renewable energy goals embodied in New York’s Climate Act.  As County Executive, he will work to facilitate wind energy projects in the waters off Nassau County’s south shore, infrastructure improvements to bolster electric vehicle charging throughout the County, and electrification of the County’s large NICE bus fleet.

 

Olena Nicks (Dem.) – Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 5:  Nicks has been engaged in public service for a number of years, serving as President of the Uniondale Public Library and reaching the rank of Captain in the Uniondale Fire Department.  In March of this year, she won a special election for a seat in the Nassau County Legislature.  Nicks believes that protecting Nassau County’s water resources is the most urgent environmental challenge confronting County officials.  She is working to obtain State funding for the installation of advanced filtration equipment for the water system that supplies Uniondale and Hempstead in order to provide better protection from “forever chemicals” such as PFAS and 1,4-dioxane and to educate and mobilize members of these communities regarding the water quality issues that affect them.  She is also a strong supporter of renewable energy.  She is working closely with Propel NY Energy on the implementation of its plans to upgrade the electric grid in Nassau County in order to facilitate Long Island’s transition to clean energy.  She is also working to obtain funding to incentivize the use of electric and other clean energy vehicles by both public and private sectors.

 

Debra Mule (Dem.) – Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 6:  Mule has served in the Nassau County Legislature since 2018.  She has been a strong supporter of the soon-to-be completed Bay Park Conveyance Project, which will redirect treated wastewater from the Bay Park Treament facility for several miles to the Cedar Creek Treatment Facility, thereby significantly improving water quality and the health of marshlands in Reynolds Channel and Western Bays and protecting nearby coastal communities from storm surges and sea level rise.  After a large sinkhole that occurred in 2023 in the hamlet of Baldwin resulted in the infiltration of untreated sewage into a nearby stream, killing many fish and other aquatic wildlife, Mule has worked successfully to increase funding for infrastructure resiliency projects in communities throughout Nassau County.  In the next term, she will continue her efforts to convert the blighted former Oakwood Beach Club to a community park.  She recently joined forces with Assemblywoman Judy Griffin to advocate for State funding for this project.  She will also continue her efforts to create a small botanical garden at the Brookside Preserve.

 

Juleigh Chin (Dem.) – Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 9:  Chin has been engaged in public service for a number of years, holding several positions with the Town of North Hempstead, serving as President of the Herricks School District Board of Education, and actively working in support of Long Island’s Asian-American community.  As a North Hempstead official, she worked to pass a regulation that encourages commercial landscapers to transition to the use of electric, rather than gas-powered equipment.  On the Herricks school board, she helped to implement programs that assist students to explore careers in emerging fields, including the offshore wind industry and other green technologies.  Chin believes that the most urgent environmental issue confronting Nassau County is the protection of its sole source aquifer, which supplies all of its drinking water.  In the County Legislature, she will work to strengthen regulations to prevent harmful contaminants from entering the aquifer, invest in advanced water treatment systems, provide funding to assist local water authorities to detect and remove toxins from the water supply, and enforce strict controls on land use and development in proximity to recharge zones, wetlands and other vulnerable areas.  She fully supports the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act and will actively support clean energy projects like offshore wind, solar energy and battery storage, work to improve energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings, and ensure that climate justice is at the core of all local environmental planning, so that vulnerable and historically underserved communities are not left behind.

 

Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (Dem.) – Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 11:  DeRiggi-Whitton has been a member of the Nassau County Legislature since 2012.  She has worked during her tenure to protect the water resources in her waterfront district and throughout Nassau County.  She collaborated with City of Glen Cove officials to identify the source of waste contamination that has resulted in the extended closure of Glen Cove’s Crescent Beach and helped to secure County resources to aid the City’s efforts to correct the problem.  She has also worked to expand and modernize the County’s wastewater infrastructure and helped to secure millions of dollars in County funding to expand its Septic Environmental Program to Improve Cleanliness (SEPTIC), which helps property owners to replace obsolete polluting septic systems with state-of-the-art alternative wastewater treatment systems.  In addition, she helped to secure Federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to reduce the cost for Sea Cliff property owners to connect to a recently expanded sanitary sewer system. 

 

Karen Bhatia (Dem.) – Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 18:  Bhatia has a varied background in law, finance and education, including a leadership position with the NYC Economic Development Corporation where she led New York City’s effort to expand its technology sector.  She is making her first campaign for elective office.  If elected to the County Legislature, Bhatia will work to achieve the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act by supporting regulatory action to curtail new natural gas hookups, including the NY Heat Act, addressing community concerns about new renewable energy projects, including offshore wind and battery storage, and accelerating the electrification of all forms of transportation.  Her legislative district is threatened by the impacts of climate change, including rising water levels, and she will seek funding for a variety of resiliency measures, including dune restoration, updated flood zoning, and green stormwater systems.  Bhatia will also work to protect Nassau County’s water resources, with a special emphasis on combating the saltwater intrusion that threatens its water supply through measures such as reducing groundwater pumping by way of water conservation and exploring the viability of aquifer recharge strategies. 

 

Joseph Saladino (Rep.) – Oyster Bay Town Supervisor:  After serving six terms in the State Assembly, Saladino has been Oyster Bay’s Town Supervisor since 2017 and, throughout his tenure, has been a strong environmental advocate.  He spearheaded the effort to fully remediate contaminated soil at Bethpage Community Park after the discovery of 22 buried chemical drums at that location, and he has been unwavering in his efforts, which have included litigation commenced by the Town, to achieve a rapid and complete cleanup of the highly contaminated former U.S. Navy / Grumman industrial facility in Bethpage.  Under Saladino’s tenure, Oyster Bay has strongly supported renewable energy programs, including assisting homeowners in installing rooftop solar energy equipment, which has resulted in State recognition of the Town as a Climate Smart Community.   The Town has also added millions of clam and oyster seedlings to Oyster Bay Harbor, worked with PSE&G to protect endangered osprey habitats, and planted and maintained numerous new trees throughout the Town, which has earned it multiple Tree City USA designations from the Arbor Day Foundation. 

 

Joseph Scianablo (Dem.) – Hempstead Town Supervisor:  Scianablo is making his first run for elective office after a career in public service that included service in the Marine Corp., the New York City Police Department and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office.  He believes that the surface and subsurface water resources of Hempstead and all of Long Island are under serious threat from pollution, overdevelopment and the effects of climate change.  As Town Supervisor, he will advocate for expanded sewer infrastructure to reduce nitrogen pollution from outdated septic systems and cesspools, particularly in areas near bays and estuaries.  He will also support strict enforcement of groundwater protection zones, increased investment in stormwater management upgrades and stronger oversight of pesticide and fertilizer use.  In addition, he will push for full accountability and the cleanup of polluted industrial sites and will seek to make those responsible for such pollution, rather than taxpayers, bear the cost.  Scianablo supports Long Island’s transition to clean renewable energy, including offshore wind, solar and battery storage projects that are environmentally sound and responsibly sited.  He will work to minimize community opposition to beneficial renewable energy projects by insisting on transparency, community input and strong protections for health, marine life and property.

 

Dave Kerpen (Dem.) – North Hempstead Town Supervisor:  Kerpen is an entrepreneur and author who is making his first run for elective office.  He strongly supports the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act and will work to educate constituents about both the environmental and the economic benefits, including lower energy costs and job opportunities, associated with the transition to a green economy.  In addition, he will work aggressively to dispel community concerns about potential health and safety impacts of clean energy projects, including battery energy storage systems, and he will not hesitate to support well-designed and appropriately sited projects in the Town of North Hempstead.  If elected, Kerpen will also focus on improving and expanding public recreation facilities in the Town, particularly North Hempstead Beach Park, which has not received sufficient government resources and is in poor condition.   The Town has an extensive shoreline along Long Island Sound and is extremely vulnerable to the rising water levels and more frequent and intense weather events associated with climate change.  He will therefore seek to obtain funding for major investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, along with an expansion of the Town’s sewer system.

 

 

Suffolk County

 

Greg Doroski (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 1:  Doroski presently serves on the Southold Town Board, and he believes that the most important environmental issue confronting Southold and the entire North Fork of Long Island is controlling the intense development pressure that threatens the area’s important agriculture sector, its water supply and its quality of life.  During his tenure on the Town Board, he helped to preserve hundreds of acres of open space and farmland which was financed with a combination of municipal bonds, proceeds from the region’s Community Preservation Fund and partnerships with Suffolk County and private donors.  He is currently working on a major overhaul of the Town’s zoning code, which puts “smart growth” principles, open space and farmland preservation and other environmental concerns front and center.  He has also worked on the removal of stormwater outflows that discharged pollutants into the Peconic Estuary, which have been replaced with permeable drain fields that remove water pollutants through natural filtration.  Doroski strongly supports the renewable energy goals set forth in New York’s Climate Act.  On the Southold Town Board, he helped negotiate a lease to bring a 3.5 MW solar array to the Town’s closed and capped landfill and he serves on a taskforce that is drafting a code to permit battery energy storage systems at appropriate locations in the Town.

 

Ann Welker (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 2:  Welker served on the Southampton Board of Trustees between 2018 and 2023, where she worked to manage and protect the Town’s shores, waterways, marshes and bottomlands.  In 2023, she was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature.  In that capacity, she has continued to work to protect the County’s environmental resources.  Following the 2024 voter approval of Suffolk Co. Proposition 2, which authorized a 1/8 cent increase in the County’s sales tax dedicated to projects designed to protect its surface and drinking waters, Welker was appointed to the newly formed Water Quality Restoration Fund Board of Trustees, which is working to implement new water quality projects.  She is also working to pass legislation to preserve the County’s working waterfronts, consisting of docks, piers, wharves, ice houses, and processing facilities used in commercial fishing and aquaculture, which are under intense development pressure that threatens water-based livelihoods and the traditions associated with them.  With respect to renewable energy, Welker is a member of a Town of Southampton task force that is working to draft regulations to facilitate the development of battery energy storage systems in the Town in order to support the use of clean energy while protecting community residents. 

 

Steve Englebright (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 5:  Englebright served in the New York State Legislature for many years, where he was a forceful and effective advocate on environmental issues and was instrumental in securing a “Green Amendment” to the State Constitution, which gives State residents the right to clean air and water and a healthful environment.  In 2023, he was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature, where he began his political career in 1983.  In the County Legislature Englebright is continuing his longstanding effort to obtain electrification of the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Jefferson Branch and the conveyance of County-owned land to the MTA for construction of a new electrified terminus and rail yard for that line.  He is also working on several clean water initiatives, including expansion of the County’s program to assist property owners in replacing polluting older septic systems with modern Innovative and Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems.  In addition, he is a member of the newly formed Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Fund Board of Trustees, which is charged with implementing new water quality projects that will tap dedicated funding provided by the recent voter-approved increase in the County’s sales tax.

 

Kelly Perry-Hyland (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 8:  Perry-Hyland is a chemist and former researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she led projects on clean energy, hydrogen fuel cells, and energy storage.  She also organized public science briefings in the U.S. Senate on climate and computing policy.  This is her first campaign for elective office and, if elected to the Suffolk County Legislature, she will work to achieve the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act with an emphasis on community engagement to educate residents on the urgency of the challenges associated with climate change and address their health and safety concerns regarding climate mitigation projects.  She supports responsibly cutting red tape and streamlining the renewable energy permitting process and using County-owned properties for zero-emission electricity production and storage.  In addition, she will work to expand workforce training for clean energy jobs.  Kelly-Hyland will also work to protect Suffolk County’s water resources through an expansion of its sewer systems and the clean-up of toxic chemicals at its industrial sites.  She will place particular emphasis on reducing water usage through community education and outreach, including the promotion of a cultural shift away from large, heavily watered and fertilized residential and recreational lawns.

 

Jason Richberg (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 15:  Richberg has served in the Suffolk County Legislature since 2020 and has worked to establish a thriving sustainable economy in the County that protects the environment and provides training to local communities so that they derive economic benefit from clean energy and other green initiatives.  He helped to obtain the passage of legislation that creates incentives for energy-efficiency upgrades to residential and commercial properties and, upon re-election, he will work to expand these programs, create a greener transit system, including electrification of the County’s buses, and strengthen the County’s electric grid to support the transition to renewable energy.  Richberg’s constituents have been significantly impacted by damage to coastal communities and impairment to septic systems associated with climate change, including more frequent and intense storms and rising water levels.  He helped to obtain Federal and State funding for the ongoing Carlls River Watershed Sewage Project, which is providing sewer connections to several thousand homes in Deer Park, West Babylon, North Babylon and Wyandanch.  He also worked with County and Town of Babylon officials on the Wyandanch Rising project, which brought several infrastructure improvements, including sewer service, to the Wyandanch business district.

 

Rebecca Sanin (Dem.) – Suffolk Co. Legislature Dist. 16:  Sanin previously served as President / CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, which provides critical healthcare, nutritional and housing assistance to Long Island families in need.  She was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature in 2023, where she serves on the Environment, Parks and Agriculture Committee.  In her first term in the Legislature, Sanin led the successful effort to have Suffolk County acquire the development rights to the 13-acre Stanhope Stables in the Town of Huntington, which was under strong development pressure, thereby preserving this property as green open space and protecting the character of an area known as an equestrian hub in perpetuity.  Upon her re-election she will work to achieve badly needed upgrades to the County’s energy infrastructure in order to support its full transition to renewable energy.  In addition, she is very concerned about the large amounts of “forever chemicals” and other toxins that impact the County’s land and water resources and she will work to reduce plastic waste, educate the public and service providers such as landscapers about composting, organic lawn treatment, the use of native plants and the purchase of products that reduce the toxic load on households and the environment.

 

Cooper Macco (Dem.) – Huntington Town Supervisor:  Macco is a practicing attorney who has been very active in community affairs.  He believes the most important environmental issue confronting Huntington is the protection of its water resources.  He will work to obtain funding to broaden and accelerate an expansion of the Town’s sewer system and replace aging septic systems with modern low-nitrogen systems.  He also wants to reduce the nitrogen fertilizer runoff that contributes to water pollution and will work for the approval of legislation that mandates the use of low-nitrogen fertilizer throughout Suffolk County.  Macco is a strong supporter of renewable energy.  He will pursue a significant increase in the installation of solar energy panels on municipal properties, including building roofs and parking lots, and he supports legislation, such as the NY Heat Act, that will discourage new natural gas connections and hasten the transition to electrification of building infrastructure.  He also wants to increase financial assistance to households that transition to clean energy.  Huntington has an extensive shoreline abutting Long Island Sound and Macco notes that several of the Town’s public waterfront amenities have been, and remain, damaged by the intense storms and rising water levels associated with climate change.  He wants to seek funding for an aggressive program of climate resiliency improvements along the Town’s coastline.

 

Rich Schaffer (Dem.) – Babylon Town Supervisor:  Schaffer has served as Babylon Town Supervisor since 2011and has compiled a strong record of environmental stewardship.  In 2023 Babylon achieved Bronz certification under New York State’s Climate Smart Communities program, in recognition of the Town’s progress in reducing emissions, planning for climate impacts, and integrating sustainability across departments.  In early 2025 the Town’s nationally recognized Long Island Green Homes initiative surpassed 2,000 completed home energy retrofits, involving upgrades to insulation, heating and cooling efficiency, and weatherization, thereby saving participating households 20-30% on their energy bills.  Recently, Babylon received a $235,000 Federal grant to expand the program to include air-source heat pumps and deeper retrofits for low- and moderate-income households.  With regard to its water resources, Babylon has partnered with Suffolk County to undertake a multi-million-dollar sewer expansion to connect 300 homes along the Carlls River to sewers, thereby reducing ground water contamination and nitrogen loading in the Great South Bay, with construction commencing earlier this year.  In addition, in 2024 the Town restored degraded wetlands using more than 2,400 tons of recycled material recovered from its own sanitation operations – an innovative reuse strategy that simultaneously stabilizes the shoreline and promotes biodiversity.

 

Kathee Burke-Gonzalez (Dem.) – East Hampton Town Supervisor:  Burke-Gonzalez has served on the East Hampton Town Board since 2014 and was elected Town Supervisor in 2023. As Town Supervisor, she has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to the environment.  She helped to secure a grant from New York State which will be used to rebuild the storm-eroded dunes at Ditch Plains Beach in order to protect this popular recreation area, along with nearby residential neighborhoods.  The Town recently received another State grant that will help it to develop a long-term resiliency plan for the hamlet of Montauk, which is extremely vulnerable to the rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storms associated with climate change.  The Town is also in the process of revising its zoning code to help protect its natural resources.  These revisions include reductions in the maximum allowable size of new homes and the permitted intensity of soil and groundwater disturbance.  Finally, the Town recently adopted an Energy Road Map, which will help it to achieve its goal of using renewable energy for 100% of the Town’s community-wide energy consumption by 2030.

 

Jorge Guadron (Dem.) – Islip Town Board:  Guadron is a business owner who was elected to the Islip Town Board in 2021, representing communities – Brentwood, Central Islip and North Bay Shore – that historically have been neglected and have received a disproportionate share of polluting facilities and activities.  Upon being elected to the Town Board, he supported the successful effort to prevent a waste transfer station from being constructed on a site located in the heart of Brentwood and in proximity to residential neighborhoods.  He also worked to bring about a major clean-up of Brentwood’s Roberto Clemente Park, where construction contractors, waste brokers and waste haulers had illegally dumped contaminated construction waste for a number of years.  In addition, he is fighting to ensure that contractors who engage in illegal dumping and other unscrupulous practices are prevented from participating in the Town’s municipal procurement process.  Guadron supports the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act.  He is working to have electric vehicle charging equipment installed in Town-owned parking facilities and supports the construction of a battery energy storage system that meets rigorous safety standards in the hamlet of Hauppauge.