Peter D. Lopez (born April 10, 1961) is a politician who served in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

from the 102nd Assembly District (established in 2012), which includes all of

Schoharie County Schoharie County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county seat is Schoharie. "Schoharie" comes from a Mohawk word meaning "f ...

and portions of Chenango, Columbia,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

, Otsego,

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

counties from 2007 to 2017. He is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. On October 1, 2017, Lopez became the regional administrator for the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

's region 2, based in New York City.

Early life

Lopez was born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

; his family moved to

Schoharie, New York Schoharie ( ) is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in and the county seat of Schoharie County, New York, Schoharie County, New York (state), New York. The population was 3,299 at the 2000 census. The Town of Schoh ...

, where he was raised. He graduated from Schoharie Central School, the State University College at Cobleskill, and the

University at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, where he received a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

degree in 1988.

Politics

Lopez became interested in public service as a young man, joining the Republican Party and running for the Schoharie Village Board at the age of 20. He lost to a candidate endorsed by the mayor. Lopez later won a seat on the Village Board and later was elected as Supervisor. Lopez worked as staff to the New York State Legislature for 21 years, collaborating with a broad range of public and private interests at the federal, state and local levels. Among his position was as associate director of the Senate Agriculture Committee (Senator John R. Kuhl, Jr., chairman), and assistant director of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources (Senator Charles D. Cook, chairman). He also served as the District Office Director for Assembly Minority Leader

John Faso John James Faso Jr. (born August 25, 1952) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2019. Faso was first elected to the post in 2016. A Republican, Faso previously represented the 102nd distr ...

, who ran for Governor of New York in 2006, and managed constituent services, including helping seniors and veterans access benefits. In 2004, Lopez was elected County Clerk with about 70 percent of the vote; he served until 2006.

Elected to state office

Lopez was first elected to the State Assembly in November 2006, when he defeated

Siena College Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

professor Scott Trees. He won a total of 58 percent of the vote on the Republican,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

, and

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

party lines. Lopez ran uncontested in the November 2008 and November 2010

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

s. In 2012 he won from the newly defined 102nd Assembly district. Lopez supported energy conservation and the development of alternative energy sources in the Mohawk Valley, including

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

.Ariel Zangla, "NY Assemblyman Peter Lopez challenged by retired cop James Miller in 102nd District"
''Daily Freeman'', 24 October 2012 In 2007 he and his staff organized a tour of the Maple Ridge, Fenner, and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

wind farms in New York state. Lopez also supports biodiesel research and development in the state, as well as tourism, family farms, and manufacturing. Lopez has fought against the opioid epidemic, sponsoring Laree's Law, which holds drug dealers accountable for the deaths caused by the sale of opioids and other narcotics. Lopez has also been vocal about Albany's culture of corruption, and called on fellow lawmakers to strip the pensions of

Sheldon Silver Sheldon Silver (February 13, 1944 – January 24, 2022) was an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, and convicted felon from New York City who served as speaker of the New York State Assembly from 1994 to 2015. A native of Manhattan' ...

and

Dean Skelos Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American former politician from Long Island, New York. A Republican, Skelos served in the New York State Assembly and later represented the Ninth District in the New York State Senate from 1985 t ...

, who were (in Silver's case, initially) convicted of corruption charges. Silver's conviction was overturned by the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

on July 13, 2017.

Environmental Protection Agency

On September 28, 2017,

Scott Pruitt Edward Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma. He served as the fourteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from February 17, 2017, to July ...

, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, named Lopez to be regional administrator for region 2. The region 2 office is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and its area of responsibility is

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

. Lopez is due to begin his position at the EPA on Oct. 1, at which point he will resign his assembly seat. New York Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

has the responsibility to call a special election for the 102nd district.

Personal life

Lopez is a member of the SUNY Cobleskill Foundation Board as well as the Bassett Hospital Board. He is a black belt in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. He has been a member of an advisory committee on runaway and troubled youth, and Chairman of the Schoharie Main Street Committee. He was a founding member of

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

of Schoharie County."Peter D. Lopez"
Hispanic Coalition of New York, Inc., 2011, accessed 30 December 2014

Honors

* He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from both SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Albany, the State University of New York's Golden Anniversary Chancellor's Recognition award, the New York State Masons' General Douglas MacArthur Award for Service to Youth, and the Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce's Leader of the Year Award. *In 2012, he received the ''Times Journal'' Star of the Year Award for his dedicated efforts in helping communities recover from the devastation of

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...

in 2011 and Tropical Storm Lee.

References

External links

New York State Assembly Member Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Peter 1961 births Living people Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New York (state) Politicians from Miami People from Schoharie, New York State University of New York at Cobleskill alumni University at Albany, SUNY alumni 21st-century American politicians