NEWS

Fenimore foe going Green on Assembly ticket

William Westhoven
@WWesthoven

Andover resident Kenneth Collins is well-known as a confrontational environmentalist who speaks loudly and often at meetings of government bodies charged with protecting open space and water supplies throughout northern New Jersey.

Last week, Collins declared his intention to take his brash style to Trenton as the Green Party candidate for an Assembly seat representing the 24th district.

“I’ve been up here in the district for over 15 years now and whenever I go to the polls, pretty much all of the time, the candidates are Republicans,” Collins said of the 24th, which covers large portions of Sussex and Warren counties and Mount Olive in Morris County. “Sometimes, Republicans are the only choice because they’re running unopposed. I just think there needs to a different voice than just that one conversation, and that’s what I’m here to facilitate.”

“Kenny” Collins is a political greenhorn, but public service runs in his blood as the son of former Denville councilman and Kiwanis Club President Willard Collins.

An Army veteran and Delaware Riverkeeper volunteer, Collins is employed as a cake decorator for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., where he has worked for more than 25 years as a member of the United Food and Commercial Worker's Union.

As an active environmentalist, he regularly attends New Jersey Highlands Council and Delaware River Basin Commission meetings and hearings, commenting often against the detrimental effects of projects and fighting for the cleanup of Fenimore landfill in Roxbury.

He also is well-known to the Roxbury Township Council for confronting members about the Fenimore issue.

“My vision is more of a forward-thinking vision,” he said. “I think eventually, due to the nature of fossil fuels and their finality, every party is going to have to turn into a green party, and I think I’m way ahead of the curve.”

Collins also is registered with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an intervenor on various pipeline projects, including Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Columbia Gas Co.’s East Side Expansion Project, and is currently fighting the PennEast Pipeline.

Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said his group has yet to complete the questionnaire process used to determine candidate endorsements, but that he has admired Collins for his efforts in Roxbury and elsewhere.

“I’ve known Ken for a long time,” Tittel said. “He’s a very dynamic person who shows up all over the state to protect the environment. I have a lot of respect for him.

Collins has publicly addressed non-environmental issues as well, having recently lobbied the Byram town council for an increased speed limit on the 35 mph section of Route 206 in Byram. His campaign platform includes an economic revitalization plan for Belvidere that is centered on riverfront redevelopment and river-based tourism.

“Belvidere has a real treasure on its hands, being right on the Delaware River, and it could be the next Lambertville if it chose to do that,” Collins said.

An admitted liberal, he favors raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour immediately and increase it to $12 incrementally over four years, with the eventual goal of $15 per hour, stopping the Sussex County solar project bailout until a full investigation is complete and giving heroin-addicted minors priority for treatment over criminals.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com.