Clean Energy In the News

Gov. Corzine has unveiled a long-anticipated energy master plan that includes a provision for additional nuclear power plants.

The most likely site for such a plant would be at the adjacent Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power stations in Salem County, where the state's largest utility has said it is considering a fourth generating unit.

The nuclear option is one of several new energy sources - including wind and solar - envisioned in the plan, which calls for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses in the state by 2020.

The master plan is not a binding document. Rather, it offers varying agendas for legislation and regulation in support of the plan's goals, said Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton. It will be followed by a series of public hearings starting April 28.

orzine's endorsement of nuclear power is "a total failure of leadership," said Matt Elliott, clean energy and global warming advocate for Environment New Jersey. "This governor has been traveling around the country and around the world promoting himself as an advocate of clean energy."

Although nuclear power plants release no greenhouse gasses, they do create large amounts of solid radioactive waste, which must be stored and sealed for thousands of years.

Elliott and other environment activists, while supporting the plan's goal to reduce carbon emissions, said the plan should have relied more on reducing consumption.

Industrial interests have supported additional nuclear capacity, arguing that the kind of consumption reductions needed to meet the emissions goal are unlikely to be achieved.

"The chemical and pharmaceutical industries are very energy intensive," said Hal Bozarth, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of New Jersey. "They've done as as much as they can to shave their demand; they've picked all the low-hanging fruit."

Bozarth and other business leaders have long complained that their electric rates are more than 30 percent higher than neighboring states' and more than 70 percent higher than the national average.

Public Service Enterprise Group, the state's largest utility and the majority owner of the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants, has announced that it will propose 300 to 400 megawatts of new generating capacity in New Jersey. It also has said it is "looking at the viability of building a new nuclear plant at the site of its Hope Creek and Salem units," which are adjacent to each other in Salem County.