Issue Position: Protecting the Environment

Issue Position

I want to preserve the natural beauty of our state for the hikers, fishers, hunters and tourists who cherish it, and to keep our air, water and soil safe and clean. I also believe that our economic future depends on clean energy.

Congressman Lance has joined Tea Party Republicans to allow coal companies to dump waste in our rivers and streams and oil companies to pollute our atmosphere, while opposing sensible safeguards against climate change. That's bad for our health, and for our economy, as China races to overtake us in electric cars and solar power.

I believe that climate change is real, and in the overwhelming scientific consensus that it is exacerbated by human activity. I support the Paris Climate Change Agreement and want the federal government to work with states to meet the voluntary commitments America made to reduce our emissions. I strongly oppose subsidies and other policies that artificially prop up fossil fuel industries, which hurt the environment and make no economic sense. I want America to lead the world to a clean energy future, and I want New Jersey to lead America.

To that end, I oppose the PennEast and Pilgrim pipelines -- two projects that would pose immediate threats to farmland and landowners in the 7th district, to residential communities, EPA Sole Source aquifers, and more. I would also support legislation that would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to receive more public input before approving pipeline projects and measure environmental impact in a more rigorous way, unlike Leonard Lance -- who voted in 2013 to speed up the natural gas pipeline approval process. New Jersey should be leading the charge on the environment by developing our burgeoning solar energy industry, not place our health at risk by using old and unsafe energy sources.

I oppose offshore drilling -- especially on the Jersey Shore. When hard working New Jersey families take a weekend off, we should not be greeted by the sight of oil rigs on the horizon, or have to cancel our plans last minute because of a leak. If we build anything off our coast, it should be windmills producing clean, reliable and safe energy for our state.

I will also support funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, and defend its scientists from political appointees who seek to censor their research or punish them for doing their jobs. We should be basing environmental policy in America on science, not ideology.

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