BELMAR – Against the unspoken knowledge that Republican challenger Anna Little of the Highlands supports offshore oil drilling, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) marched into the 6th Congressional District today with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) at his side to denounce drilling as an energy option.
“As long as I have strength,” said Lautenberg, with Shark River in the background, “we will not have drilling off the coast of New Jersey. We need a ban.”
The declaration sparked applause among the small group of Democrats gathered here to celebrate the work of Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, which since 2005 has received over $1 million in federal funding.
Upended earlier this year when President Barack Obama publicly endorsed drilling in the Mid-Atlantic region, Lautenberg and Pallone trained their recalibrated sites on GOP general opponent Little, without actually speaking her name.
“Ask merchants and restaurant owners what a clean environment means to our estaturies and coastal waters,” said Lautenberg.
