Christie Robs More from Clean Energy Fund

Today’s Senate Budget Committee is hearing testimony on the Board of Public Utilities (BPU)’s budget. The agency continues to divert money from the Clean Energy Fund and support the proliferation of pipelines through New Jersey. They have rubberstamped these projects and refused to acknowledge or deal with climate change. They have let wind developments stay at a stand-still and allowed New Jersey to fall behind other states in solar power, while promoting dirty fuels. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement: 

“They’re at it again: just like hogs feeding at the trough. There’s a shortfall in the budget so the Treasurer is grabbing more money from the Clean Energy Fund. By taking another $50 million from the Fund, it brings the total to almost $210 million stolen from the Fund in just this budget. This is money that should be used to weatherize houses and create jobs. We could be making our homes more energy efficient and resilient to the next storm. Instead, they keep raiding the Fund for other reasons such as putting new lights in state buildings. This has become a hidden energy tax on consumers. We’ve been making progress on the need to dedicate this Clean Energy Funds to actual clean energy programs.

“The Treasurer has once again proven our point that the Clean Energy Fund needs to be constitutionally dedicated because it has become his personal piggy bank. This year’s BPU budget continues to steal money from clean sources and focus on fossil fuels over renewable energy. In the latest budget, there is $210 million directly being diverted from the Clean Energy Fund with $53 million of that going towards lighting on governmental buildings and $63 million for New Jersey Transit. Since Christie took Office, his administration has diverted over $1.5 billion in clean energy monies to close budget gaps. This is money that should be used to weatherize houses and create jobs. We could be making our homes more energy efficient and resilient to the next storm.

“The SBC has benefited New Jersey by supporting energy efficiency programs, incentivizing new and emerging renewable energy technologies. With all the funding the Governor has diverted from the Clean Energy Fund, we could have created more than 4,000 jobs, resulting in 100 million tons of air pollution reductions over the next couple years, and would have created billions of dollars of economic activity. These are great programs and some of them could be better and be expanded to help more people and create more jobs. However, this can’t happen because they don’t have the funds that keep getting stolen. By cutting all of this money, it has hurt our economy because the money should be used to promote new technologies such as fuel cells, wave technology, microgrids, and energy storage. Without the funding, it puts our state at a disadvantage.”

“By raiding the Clean Energy Fund, we dropped from 7th to 24th in energy efficiency in the nation. That means we spend more in New Jersey for less results because we do not have a coordinated energy efficiency portfolio standard. While New Jersey residents are feeling the effects of climate change and want to make their homes more resilient, the Governor and the legislature have blocked them from doing so. This has created more greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts like future storms and sea level rise impacting our communities. In order to move forward with energy efficiency, we need an energy efficiency portfolio standard.

“Energy efficiency and weatherization are some of the most cost effective ways to reduce greenhouse gasses and air pollution. Energy efficiency reduces peak power needs and therefore saves people money because it could double and triple normal power. Other states like Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are less competitive because people are paying more. This was an investment in New Jersey that we have now disinvested in. We need to focus on reducing energy use and promoting renewable sources of energy generation, but we won’t be able to do that so long as billions of dollars keep being stolen to plug budget holes. This would keep the money the public wants going to clean energy actually going to clean energy by preventing raids on the funding.

“We support the resolution, SCR151 (Smith), to constitutionally dedicate Clean Energy Fund money because the legislature must stop stealing from consumers and the environment. These raids have been one of the shameful misuses of budgetary process and arrogance of this Administration. All together this Governor has taken $1.5 billion that save money on our electric bills, reduce pollution, and create jobs. Clean Energy Fund monies were supposed to go toward offshore wind and other renewable energy programs, but instead New Jersey has been left in the wind. We could be helping more households reduce their energy usage and save consumers money with these funds. We need this dedication to put an end to the Governor and legislature robbing the Clean Energy Fund over the next 2 to 3 years. We cannot wait five years for this dedication because we have already lost thousands of green jobs and savings for consumers.”