For Immediate Release
August 14, 2012 Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
New Jersey Sierra Club Endorses Senator Robert Menendez Today the New Jersey Sierra Club announced its endorsement of Senator Robert Menendez in the 2012 Senate Race.Senator Menendez has a longstanding commitment to the environment and has been a leader on environmental issues throughout his legislative career.The Senator has been at the forefront on issues impacting our environment including addressing global warming, preventing offshore drilling on the Atlantic Coast, chemical safety, and protecting the nation's wild places.Senator Menendez has been a critical leader on environmental, transportation, public health and green jobs issues.He is a leader in securing funding for the Highlands and Sterling Forest, champions protecting our waterways and oceans, cleaning up our toxic sites, and cleaning up our air. He stands up to the right wing legislators that are trying to weaken environmental protections for their corporate benefactors.
"We are proud to be standing here endorsing Senator Robert Menendez for reelection.He has been a dedicated national environmental leader and champion through his career.He not only votes the right way, but he fights to protect the environment here in New Jersey and across the nation.We believe Senator Menendez needs to be returned to the Senate to continue his great work and to fight for us here in New Jersey," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. Senator Menendez goes beyond simply voting the right way on issues, he champions environmental causes.He is someone we do not need to lobby him on the issues as he is a dedicated environmentalist who is often leading on the issue and sometimes lets us know what is going on in Washington. He is widely considered a champion for reducing greenhouse gases and promoting the clean energy economy.Senator Menendez is an advocate for reducing the country's reliance on fossil fuels. The Senator's record supports his words; he has consistently worked against subsidies for clean coal and supported the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory authority over coal plants.Instead he has promoted clean energy solutions and the green jobs they create, such as recently being the lead sponsor of legislation to close big oil tax loopholes and establishing cleaner and greener fleets by increasing the use of alternative fuels like natural gas, utilizing more electric vehicles, and through increased use of efficiency measures. Senator Menendez has also fought to keep the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind power in place as Republicans have called for its elimination.We want to see wind mills off our coast, not drilling rigs, and the PTC is crucial to make that happen.The Republicans are standing in the way by opposing the credits.
"The New Jersey Chapter has worked with Senator Menendez for many years now and he is someone who is deeply committed to protecting our environment and to making sure that our air and water are clean, we have preserved open space, and we are investing in clean energy and green jobs," said Ken Johanson, Chair of the New Jersey Chapter. In addition to his work on energy and climate, Menendez is a leader in protecting public lands.Senator Menendez has been a leading advocate in the protection of the Highlands region, which provides drinking water to 5.4 million state residents.He was a co-sponsor of the Highlands Conservation Act which sets aside funds for preservation projects in the four state region. He supported expanding the Wallkill Refuge and designating Paterson's Great Falls a National Park. This designation recognizes the role Paterson and the Great Falls played in the development of our country's industrial history.New Jersey had not received a National Park designation in thirty years prior. Senator Menendez's environmental and conservation leadership extend well beyond New Jersey. Senator Menendez is committed to protecting our shores and coastal areas from the impacts of offshore oil drilling and pollution.Around the country he is known as a champion for protecting the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, the Tongass National Forest, Utah Lands, the Rocky Mountain Ecosystem, for cleaning up Superfund and Toxic sites, stopping air pollution from coal, and protecting our drinking water and waterways. In 2009 the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club awarded Senator Menendez the Sierra Club Achievement Award in recognition of his work on climate change,the prevention of offshore drilling and the protection of wild places.
"Rarely has the Sierra Club been presented with the opportunity to endorse a public official that is a true friend with a proven record of environmental leadership like Senator Menendez's," concluded *Richard Isaac, Political Chair of the Sierra Club's New Jersey Chapter*. "We fully embrace his candidacy and ask all of New Jersey's voters who care about the environment to do likewise."
/The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest environmental group with more than 750,000 members, about 20,000 of them here in New Jersey.As Tittel describes it, "The Sierra Club endorsement is the green version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."The group is committed to helping Robert Menendez win reelection to the US Senate by contributing volunteers to the campaign, going door-to-door, making phone calls, helping with fundraising, and in other ways./
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-- Kate Millsaps Program Assistant NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club 609-656-7612