Home » LTE: Candidates on climate in Hopewell Township

LTE: Candidates on climate in Hopewell Township

by Community Contributor

To the Editor:

Do you believe in climate change? Hopewell Township voters interested in climate change might find surprising differences in the Township Committee candidates’ positions about this subject.

After reading the candidates’ positions in the Community News, I’ve seen that Republicans John Hart and Ed Jackowski just aren’t meeting my standards for taking this issue seriously. 

Hart just shrugs, “Climate change is a federal and state issue,” he says.

Jackowski throws up his hands in saying that the Township Committee has a “negligible” role in fighting climate change.

I guess that is why they both came to the PennEast fight very late in the game. They claim to have been against the PennEast pipeline since the beginning, but that’s not true. What have they actually done to fight the pipeline? John Hart said a long time after the pipeline’s announcement that we should “negotiate” – not fight – the pipeline.  (Negotiate with what? Our open space and water supply and quality?)

Compare that mealy-mouthed response to the robust plan advocated by Mayor Kristin McLaughlin and Courtney Peters-Manning.  They’ve put Hopewell Township on the front lines of environmental change in the State. They’ve met with federal and state officials in advocating for our green space. Each of them has spoken out at rallies and in the State house about their strong opposition to this project. Mayor McLaughlin has twice traveled to Washington DC (on her own dime, not ours!) to speak directly to the heads of the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission about the damage this pipeline would inflict on Hopewell Township. And they’ve got ideas about how energy aggregation and solar projects can save township residents money at the same time that it can cut our energy usage.  As an environmental lawyer, Peters-Manning knows how to bring successful environmental programs into municipal government.

What do you think, Hopewell Township? Do you want Committee members who passively claim there’s nothing we can do about climate change?  Or do you want people with the initiative, expertise, and guts to make the Township a leader in the fight? 

We can’t gamble with our future.  I’m voting for Democrats Mayor Kristin McLaughlin and Courtney Peters-Manning for Hopewell Township Committee on November 5.  Please join me!

Billie Moore,

Hopewell Township

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