To the Editor:

Re “Calling Teddy Roosevelts” (Taking Note, editorial page, Sept. 23):

Robert B. Semple Jr. is correct that the Republican Party has repudiated the tradition of environmental stewardship. What is most shocking is that so many of the upstate New York Republican members of Congress have gone along.

In the mid-1990s, we saw these extreme measures in the House of Representatives led by Newt Gingrich. But during that time, Representative Sherwood Boehlert of Utica led the New York delegation in standing up for clean air and clean water. He and other New York Republicans understood that the environment and the economy were intertwined.

In this Congress, upstate New York Republicans have chosen to side with House leaders and the wishes of out-of-state polluters rather than the health and economic well-being of their constituents.

PETER M. IWANOWICZ

Albany, Sept. 26, 2012

The writer is a former acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.