Sierra Club of New Jersey has retracted its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, in favor of Democratic challenger Amy Kennedy, of Brigantine.
“Jeff Van Drew abandoned South Jersey’s conservation values and legacy of wilderness protection ... by tying himself to the most toxic president for our environment in the nation’s history,” NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said in a news release Tuesday. “We no longer trust anything he says.”
Later Tuesday, Tittel said the retraction of the endorsement is happening now because it was the first time the club has reversed an endorsement, and it took a long time to make the case through the national Sierra Club.
Tittel said club members are disappointed in Van Drew’s votes against federal funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in amendments to a 2020 budget bill. And he said club members fear Van Drew is softening his opposition to offshore drilling, because he supported a Trump executive order making it easier to explore for oil and minerals on federal lands.
Van Drew said he remains adamantly opposed to offshore drilling.
“I never have been, never will be in favor of drilling offshore on our coast,” Van Drew said.
He said he supports international efforts to combat climate change, if China, India and Russia also agree to compacts.
“All countries should have skin in the game,” Van Drew said.
“We pledge to do all we can to help ensure Amy Kennedy is elected,” said Dick Colby, political chair of the South Jersey Group of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Sierra Club volunteers across South Jersey will contact voters on Kennedy’s behalf and speak to the public about her history of environmental stewardship.”
Kennedy thanked the club and said the nation “cannot allow passive leadership when the climate change poses an existential threat to our district — from the Jersey Shore to the South Jersey farms that make up the majority of agricultural land in our state.”
