More than 100 citizens, many
of whom are volunteering to help pass the bill, are expected to attend the
hearing to show their support for the legislation. Speakers who plan to testify and urge the legislature
to pass the bill include Prime Sponsors Asw. Linda Stender and Sen. Barbara
Buono, a panel of renowned global warming scientists, including Dr. Michael
Oppenheimer of Princeton University and Dr. Alan Robock of Rutgers University, representatives
from New Jersey green technology companies, religious leaders and a coalition
of environmental organizations.
“New Jersey’s coastal areas are densely populated,
support a $16 billion tourism industry and provide a unique habitat for
thousands of plant and animal species,” said Linda Stender (D-Union). “If we
continue to ignore the effects of global warming, we run the risk of loosing
these priceless resources forever to rising sea levels, flooding and violent
storms. Fortunately, we have the tools to reduce global warming now. By
implementing the Global Warming Response Act, we will put New Jersey on the
right track and save our coastal region from potentially devastating
consequences.”
Other speakers include New
Jersey mayors who have passed the Sierra Club Cool Cities Resolution to cut global
warming pollution and GreenFaith, an interfaith organization that will be
presenting hundreds of letters from parishioners and clergy in support of the
bill. Several policy experts plan to
testify that the global warming solutions resulting from the bill’s passage are
key to growing New Jersey’s economy.
“Right now, the investment
community is ramping up their clean energy portfolio with the knowledge that
the high price of carbon is just around the corner. They see the lucrative prospect of investing
in a new kind of economy, a clean energy economy,” said Suzanne Leta Liou,
Environment New Jersey’s Global Warming and Clean Energy Advocate. “We can be laggards and continue our
reliance on the dirty, polluting, fossil-fuel based industry of the past, or we
can be leaders and develop a niche market for our state, producing the clean
energy technologies of the future. Our
leadership will ensure New Jersey is ahead of the curve and receives tremendous
economic gain and business opportunities as a result.”
“The action proposed today
would put this state in the vanguard of the movement to limit and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions,” said Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, a renowned global
warming scientist and Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the
Woodrow Wilson School and Department of Geosciences at Princeton
University.
In the past few years, New
Jersey has implemented policies that put the state on track to achieve the global
warming pollution reduction in the legislation.
These policies include participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative, an agreement between 10 Northeastern states to reduce global
warming pollution from power plants, a 20 percent by 2020 Clean Energy
Standard, energy efficiency programs, and the Clean Cars Program, which
requires an increasing percentage of low-emissions and zero-emissions vehicles
to be sold in the state.
Scientists say that by
cutting global warming pollution, primarily carbon dioxide, by roughly 20
percent below current levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050, we can avoid the
worst effects of global warming, protecting our children and future
generations. Half of the state’s
pollution, 52 percent, comes from transportation, primarily cars and
trucks. 16 percent of the state’s
pollution comes from in-state power plants that generate electricity. New Jersey also imports 20 to 30 percent of
our total electricity use from out of state, including dirty coal-fired power
plants in Pennsylvania. The two largest sources of pollution, transportation
and electricity, are projected to grow significantly. In fact, without decisive action, statewide
global warming pollution is projected to grow by 10 percent in the next two
decades.
“By passing this legislation, it isn’t just about New
Jersey being a national leader, it’s about protecting our environment, our
people and our economy. We are at the
forefront of a great technological revolution, just as we were with
communications technology twenty years ago.
The Global Warming Response Act will open up great opportunities for a
clean and green future,” said Jeff Tittel, Executive Director of the Sierra
Club, New Jersey Chapter.
The solutions to achieve
dramatic reductions of global warming pollution are available today. These solutions will also grow New Jersey’s
economy by promoting investment in clean, renewable energy technologies,
protect consumers from rising energy prices and preserve the environment in a
multitude of ways. Examples of global
warming solutions include renewing and increasing funding for the state’s clean
energy and energy efficiency programs, constructing an offshore wind pilot
project, requiring developers to give new homeowners the option to install
solar energy, offering pay-as-you-drive auto insurance, and establishing a
“feebate” program to that will charge fees to buyers of the worst gas guzzlers
and use that money to give incentives to buyers of the most fuel efficient cars.
“Becoming among the nation’s
leaders in clearing the skies of greenhouse gasses is a win-win for New
Jersey’s environment and economy. The sooner and greener our economy becomes
the more competitive we’ll be as we also save dollars and lives with reduced
reliance on cancer, cardiac and respiratory-disease causing fossil fuels,” said
Dave Pringle, Campaign Director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
Without policies to ensure
these solutions are in place, the economic consequences will be devastating. A lauded study commissioned by the British
government by economist Sir Richard Stern suggested that global warming could
shrink the global economy by 20 percent, but taking action now would cost just
1 percent of global gross domestic product.
“As the Stern Report
concluded, a commitment to mitigating the risks of climate change must be
viewed as an investment, a cost incurred now so we avoid very severe economic
and humanitarian consequences in the future,” said Senator Barbara Buono,
D-Middlesex.
A recent study conducted by
the University of California at Berkeley found that cutting California’s
emissions to below 1990 levels by 2020 could boost the annual Gross State
Product by $60 billion and create 17,000 new jobs by 2020. The study found that the gains could be even
larger -- $74 billion in annual GSP and 89,000 new jobs -- if climate policies
are designed to create direct incentives for California companies to invest in
new technology.
And in New Jersey,
investments in clean energy and energy efficiency are essential to spurring
economic growth. A Rutgers University
found that the state Clean Energy Standard would add approximately 11,700 jobs
and related economic benefits to the state economy, with even greater benefits
if the state becomes a manufacturing leader for solar and wind. In Governor Corzine’s economic growth plan,
clean energy is one of six industries to be supported by the Edison Innovation
Fund. The price of clean energy is
already declining rapidly. In less that
ten years, clean, offshore wind electricity is projected to be 4 to 5 cents/kWh
-- half of New Jersey’s current 10 cent/kWh electricity prices.
“The price of solar is
dropping as the industry grows. With
limited supply of fossil fuels and increased cost for energy from fossil fuels,
solar is reaching a tipping point where the cost of a solar system, over even a
5-year time horizon, will be competitive with the cost of electricity from
conventional sources. And while the
average fossil fuel plant emits 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and a host of
other dirty air pollutants, solar energy is pollution-free,” said Sue LeGros,
Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Solar Industry Association.
“In addition to the devastating air pollution, public
health and safety concerns, global warming is a primary threat to the well-being
of our state's plant and wildlife communities. However, the good news is that
by taking action now through this legislation, we have the opportunity to
protect not only our plants and wildlife, but the future well-being of our
economy and our overall quality of life,” said Joanna Wolaver, Conservation
Project Coordinator at the New Jersey Audubon Society.
“We believe that caring for the earth is a value shared by all of the
world's religions. We believe that Creation is a gift and a possession of a
loving Creator and that environmental stewardship is a matter of
moral responsibility,” said Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Director of the Fellowship
Program at GreenFaith, New Jersey’s interfaith coalition for the
environment. “We support this legislation
because it will significantly reduce New Jersey’s greenhouse gas emissions
while encouraging energy conservation and the development of sustainable energy
at the same time.”
