Sherwood Louis Boehlert (September 28, 1936September 20, 2021) was an American politician from New York. He represented a large swath of central New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing. He served as Chairman of the Science Committee from 2001 to 2006. Early life, education, and early political career Sherwood Louis Boehlert was born on September 28, 1936, in Utica, New York, to Elizabeth Monica ( Champoux) and Sherwood Boehlert, and graduated from Utica College. He was a practicing Roman Catholic. He served two years in the United States Army (1956–1958) and then worked as a manager of public relations for Wyandotte Chemical Company. After leaving Wyandotte, Boehlert served as Chief of Staff for two upstate Congressmen, Alexander Pirnie and Donald J. Mitchell; following this, he was elected the county executive of Oneida County, New York, serving from 1979 to 1983. After his four-year term as county executive, he ran successfully for Congress in the elections of 1982. He was re-elected to every Congress subsequent until his retirement. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Mitchell did not run for reelection in 1982. Boehlert entered the Republican primary to succeed him in the district, which has been renumbered from the 31st to the 25th in redistricting. He won the primary with 56% of the vote. He won the general election by defeating Democrat Anita Maxwell 56%–42%. After that, he won re-election every two years until he decided to retire and not seek re-election, in 2006. His district number changed twice, each time after redistricting—from the 25th (1983-1993) to the 23rd (1993-2003) to the 24th (2003- 2007). He was challenged in the Republican primary five times: 1986 (67%), 1996 (65%), 2000 (57%), 2002 (53%), and 2004 (60%). His lowest re-election winning percentage in the general election was 57%, in his last re-election in 2004, when he defeated Democrat Jeff Miller 57%–34%. Tenure Boehlert is best known for his work on environmental policy. Beginning in the 1980s with the acid rain crisis, Boehlert became a prominent voice in the Republican party for the environment. He was a major contributor to the acid rain provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. He pushed continually to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for light trucks and automobiles and was the lead GOP sponsor of