As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
TRENTON—New Jersey’s
largest environmental groups convened today to critique the wide holes in the
current plans for the Blue Ribbon Panel on Offshore Wind, and offer up a supplemental
plan for an open, unbiased and substantive approach to New Jersey’s energy
future. The organizations called for a rigorous, policy-based process to provide
the energy our economy needs without harming New Jersey’s environment.
“Under their current
plan, the goal of the Panel - to develop the policies that will govern offshore
wind - will not be met in adequate time. Knowing our state’s desperate
need to reduce air pollution and retire our aging nuclear plants, it is inexcusable
not to immediately begin crafting the policies that will best guide its development,”
said Emily Rusch, Energy Advocate for NJPIRG.
New Jersey currently depends
on fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil, and nuclear power to meet the
vast majority of our economy’s energy needs. The negative effects of New
Jersey’s reliance on polluting power plants are felt across the state,
from the high levels of asthma attacks and other illnesses from air pollution,
to acid rain threatening ecosystems in the Highlands, to rising sea levels along
the New Jersey shore. New Jersey’s nuclear power plants are growing older,
posing safety risks to New Jersey communities. Despite our reliance on unsustainable
sources, our energy use is predicted to increase by 14 percent over the next decade.
One sign of this increasing dependence is the natural gas plant in Linden, which
is undergoing major expansions this year.
"We are deeply troubled
that they have turned this process into a charade where their minds are made
up and they do not want to have a fair a open process. The ones who will suffer
from this poor process will be New Jersey and its environment," said Jeff
Tittel, Director, Sierra Club.
Thus far, the Panel has
only had one meeting together. While they have scheduled public meetings to
discuss the concept of offshore wind, they have overlooked their main task:
the nuts and bolts of where, when, and how offshore wind could and should be
built. No meetings have been scheduled to discuss the details of permitting
wind power, and it is unclear whether agency officials or the panel members
themselves will develop those guidelines, and if other experts and stakeholders
will be at the table. The environmental organizations called upon the Panel
to start an open, public process with experts to immediately begin to flesh
out the appropriate policies to guide the siting and development of offshore
wind, and even offered suggestions for useful experts and resources.
The organizations stressed
the timeline of the moratorium, which will be lifted next March, and highlighted
that the panel should be working to present policies this summer, so that any
regulations for offshore wind are in place by March. Under that timeline, technical
meetings with outside stakeholders and experts should begin without delay.
“As the Garden State
and a coastal state on the front lines of global warming, New Jersey should
not be putting up unnecessary road blocks for clean renewable energy like offshore
wind. We need a public process to develop the needed policies, and the Panel’s
current plan does not get us there,” said David Pringle, Campaign Director
for New Jersey Environmental Federation.
NJPIRG recently completed
a report, The Environmental Case for Wind Power in New Jersey, which makes a
comparison between wind energy and New Jersey’s current energy sources.
The report makes several recommendations for an environmental permitting process
for wind development on land that could also be relevant to offshore development.
The report can be found online at: www.njpirg.org <http://www.njpirg.org>
under reports.
As part of a letter sent to the panel members today, the organizations presented
7 Public Interest Principles that should be followed:
1) The work of the panel
should be based around a clear goal: To craft policies that ensure any future
offshore wind development that occurs in NJ has minimal impacts to the environment
or the economy.
2) The panel should make
use of the research and the experts that are already out there - such as members
of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative stakeholder group, the National
Wind Coordinating Committee, researchers from Europe, the American Wind Energy
Association, and PJM.
3) As directed by the Governor's
Executive Order, the panel should make policy recommendations with a comparison
to current sources of energy in mind. Any development will have some negative
and positive impacts. The question is whether or not the benefits of reduced
dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power outweigh any negative impacts.
4) All panel proceedings
should be open and documents available to the public.
5) The greater public good
should always come before a single financial interest. The ocean belongs to
everyone, and energy supply also impacts everyone. Therefore, while whole economies
are under the consideration by the panel, the impacts on a single corporation
or financial interest should not influence policy decisions.
6) Public hearings should
be set up to reach out to residents throughout the state, not just the residents
on the shore. Energy supply and demand affects all New Jerseyans, especially
those living near the sites of current and future power plants, and the ocean
is a public resource we all have ownership over and enjoy.
The moratorium must be lifted
in March. The panel should have clear timelines that are based around getting
regulations out before the moratorium ends. Make policy recommendations by July,
so that rules can be implemented before the moratorium is lifted in March 2006.
David Pringle, NJEF
732-996-4288
Jeff Tittel, Sierra Club
609-558-9100
