Lance Constituents Demand That Lance Stop Supporting the Trump/Pruitt Assault on The Environment

Westfield, NJ – Constituents of U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ Congressional District 7) and organizers from environmental, community and labor groups representing tens of thousands of voters in his district rallied outside the Congressman’s office today to demand that Lance cease supporting the Trump Administration’s attack on the environment, science and facts. The action comes on the heels of Earth Day.

“When he was a State legislator, Lance’s record on the environment was not great, but not awful.  But since being in Congress, Lance has had an abysmal record on environmental issues.  He has been a loyal foot soldier supporting the Trump/Pruitt assault on the environment.” said John Reichman, Co-Chair of BlueWave NJ’s Environmental Committee.

Clean Water Action prepares a legislative scorecard for all members of Congress with 100% being the highest mark and 0% the lowest. Lance scored a zero in the 113th and 114th Congressional sessions on Clean Water Action’s scorecards. “Lance’s voting record speaks for itself” said Eric Benson, Montclair Canvass Director of Clean Water Action. “His grade in the 2017-2018 Congress is still failing. There is no curve on the score that would help Congressman Lance  pass the environmental test.”

“Lance’s position on the environment is completely out of step with the positions and desires of his constituents, who want clean air and clean water and recognize that climate change is real and science matters,” said Marci Bandelli of Westfield 20/20. Westfield 20/20 has been holding weekly rallies at Lance’s Westfield office to highlight Lance’s utter disconnect with his constituents.  “Lance projects himself as a moderate, but he is anything but that,” added Margaret Illis of NJ7 Forward, a grassroots coalition dedicated to protecting and representing the interests of the citizens of the 7th CD.

The Leonard Lance I once knew is ancient history, added Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.  “While we are faced with serious problems such as cleaning up toxic sites, climate change and contaminated drinking water, Lance supports the Pruitt/Trump agenda of rolling back environmental protections.  Pruitt’s gross ethical violations are part and parcel of his assault on long standing and popular environmental protections.”

“Congressman Lance is trying to have it both ways on the environment — he is pretending to be an environmentalist while still playing to the Trump base, supporting the most anti-environmental Congressional leadership in the past 50 years and voting to remove environmental protections,” said Doug O’Malley, Environment New Jersey’s director.  “For years, Lance has gotten away with this Potomac two-step. It’s critical to expose to the public that Congressman Lance has supported the Trump/Pruitt environmental agenda.”

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Clean Water Action, founded in 1972, is a one million-member nationwide organization with more than 100,000 New Jersey members. We work to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. We fight for clean water; environmental justice, and environmentally safe jobs and businesses despite the hostile anti-environment climate in our nation’s capital. www.cleanwateraction.org/nj

ANNOUNCEMENT: Clean Water Action is hosting its 32^nd Annual Conference with Tammy Murphy as its keynote speaker on Saturday, April 28, 2018. For more details and a full agenda, visit https://www.cleanwater.org/conference2018