Julie Blake, of Hopewell Township
I have always believed in the importance of being responsible stewards of our environment.
Growing up, my family and I raised chickens, turkeys and goats, and we spent many weekends hiking in the mountains and embracing the outdoors.
Whether we were camping or working in our vegetable garden, my parents taught my sister and me a sense of responsibility toward the environment and insisted that respect for nature and health should be high priorities.
By the time I was in elementary school, my dad was taking me to community meetings about regulating and shutting down a nearby nuclear facility.
When I moved to Hopewell Township in 1999, I immediately recognized a community that shared my values. I saw a township that valued working farms and was committed to preserving thousands of acres of open space and farmland. I saw deep commitment from leaders, who were disciplined enough to dedicate public funds towards its purchase.
I saw remarkable citizen activism in organizations such as the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed, the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space and the D&R Greenway Land Trust.
The PennEast pipeline represents the greatest threat to our community in at least a generation. The pipeline promises to disturb our wildlife and forests, damage our water and put our health at significant risk.
Slated to slash across the township from west of the Ted Stiles Preserve to Mercer Meadows, the pipeline flagrantly violates our decades-long commitment to preserving the environment and open space.
I applaud the leadership of groups such as the Hopewell Township Citizens Against the PennEast Pipeline for spearheading the resistance to this threat.
As the Democratic candidate for the Hopewell Township Committee, I wholeheartedly support the fight to stop the PennEast pipeline from entering our community. I will continue to work with the many parties engaged in this fight to make the government responsive to our concerns.
Julie Blake
Democratic candidate
for Hopewell
Township Committee
