For Immediate Release
January 27, 2020

EMP & EO’s on Climate Change – Good Step Forward But Needs More Urgency

The state Board of Public Utilities have released a final version of the New Jersey Energy Master Plan along with an Executive Order on climate change. The Energy Master Plan (EMP) is supposed to comprehensively address New Jersey’s energy system, including electricity generation, transportation, and buildings, and their associated greenhouse gas emissions and related air pollutants. Murphy’s EO will also help establish rules and regulations to regulate GHG’s and reform land use regulations in flood prone areas. There are still major concerns with the final Energy Master Plan. The EMP does not put a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects, including the 8 proposed pipelines, 6 power plants and an LNG port in New Jersey. The new definition of clean energy in the plan goes against the governor’s commitment to clean energy as well as the typical definition of clean energy as wind, solar, energy efficiency, hydro and geo-thermal.

“Governor Murphy’s EO to require DEP to update New Jersey’s rules and regulations in dealing with climate impacts is critical for New Jersey. Even though we support this, we have not seen what the standards will be and how long it will take. While we wait, fossil fuel projects like the LNG port in Gibbstown and the SRL Pipeline are still going forward, that is why we need to have moratorium on fossil fuel infrastructure. The EO doesn’t make up for the short comings of the administration to really change and update the EMP to deal with the climate urgency,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “There are positives in the EMP, especially on wind and electrifying our transportation and housing sector. But the plan does not call for a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects or a 45% reduction of emissions by 2030. It still defines clean energy to include incinerators, natural gas, biogas and others and ties us to nuclear through 2050. Overall the plan will not get us to 100% renewable and zero carbon by 2050.”

“Governor Murphy’s highly anticipated Energy Master Plan doesn’t go far enough or fast enough in the race to avert climate catastrophe. While we’re waiting two more years for rules, fossil fuel polluters will continue to push for permits on the 12 major fossil fuel expansion projects currently proposed or moving forward in NJ. We can’t wait another two years, we need the governor to enact an immediate halt to all dirty fossil fuel projects—like fracked gas pipelines, power plants and export terminals—that pollute our air and water,” said Matt Smith, NJ Director of Food & Water Watch.

“Governor Murphy has promised to achieve clean energy for New Jersey but the final Energy Master Plan (EMP) released today doesn’t get us there and the lack of urgency threatens to cripple those efforts. We campaigned for the Plan to jump start the regulation of greenhouse gases and undo the Christie Administration’s rollbacks of our environmental regulations; the Governor’s Executive Orders start this process. This is even more urgent today with the Trump Administration’s attack on federal clean water laws. However, without a moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects, we are losing precious time, time we don’t have to waste in the race against climate change. We call on Governor Murphy to replace dead-end fossil fuels with renewable and truly clean energy now and to stop the bleeding by freezing all new fossil fuel projects in the state,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

“After holding multiple comment sessions around the state and receiving hundreds of comments, it is disheartening to say the least, to see that virtually all of these comments were ignored,” stated Ken Dolsky from the Don’t Gas the Meadowlands Coalition. “Obviously the BPU/DEP and the Murphy Administration had no intent to use this feedback and just held sessions to make us think it wanted our input. Going forward we know we have to redouble or triple our activist efforts to get them to move faster and farther on cutting greenhouse gases than they would otherwise,” he argued.

“The final EMP is disappointing. While recognizing the climate emergency we are in and the devastating impact climate change will have on our State, it fails to call for the immediate action we need. The EMP does not provide for a 45% reductions in GHGs, the scientific consensus for what we need to do to avert climate catastrophe; inexplicably allows for the continued development of fossil fuel plants and pipelines around the State; and does not match the far more immediate and aggressive steps other states are taking to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and address our climate emergency, said John Reichman, Chairperson, Environmental Committee, BlueWaveNJ.

“It’s great the Governor just committed to regulating greenhouse gases to combat the climate emergency, because the science dictates, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. BPU has been working overtime the past 2 years churning out action after action on energy efficiency, offshore wind and solar. Now it’s DEP’s turn to do the same, churning out action after action – regulating greenhouse gases especially short-lived climate pollutants like methane and black carbon, updating land use and water rules, and denying polluters the chance to trade killer smog-creating ozone or expand frack gas infrastructure,” said Amy Goldsmith, NJ Director of Clean Water Action.

“New Jersey faces a climate emergency and we need to stabilize and reduce our carbon emissions. We need to regulate global warming emissions from all sources, and we need to aggressively reduce emissions from all sectors in line with climate science. The proposed carbon regulations and NJDEP regulations should provide a road map on how we can start reducing emissions from fossil fuels. These proposed rules should provide a down payment by Governor Murphy to meet the climate science, but we will need to put them in place as quickly as possible. This commitment by the Murphy Administration is a step forward and provides a sea change in the regulatory thinking of NJDEP. In the interim, we will need to ensure that all proposed fossil fuel projects aren’t permitted to ensure we aren’t digging our carbon hole deeper. The moment of climate urgency is now and we welcome these actions to start turning the tide,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey.

Empower NJ is a coalition of over 90 environmental, citizen, faith, and progressive groups calling on Governor Murphy to address the climate emergency by enacting a targeted moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects in New Jersey until there are rules in place to achieve our 100% clean energy goals.