Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini, who is heading coalition of eights shore towns opposed to the ASOW project on environmental and economic grounds said Atlantic Shores’ effort to renegotiate the electricity agreement with the state BPU is another sign that the wind turbine project is not economically feasible and will serve only to dramatically hurt ratepayers with little environmental gain.

“State taxpayers and all utility ratepayers are being forced to subsidize a multi-billion-dollar foreign oil company in order to boost the company’s profits” ´said Mancini, who is heading a group that comprises Long Beach Township, Beach Haven, Ship Bottom, Barnegat Light, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Brigantine, and Ventnor City,

“If ASOW cannot stick to the deal it initially negotiated then the deal is not worth doing,” said Mancini. “As we have already experienced with the failed Orsted wind project, the cost of producing energy from offshore wind turbines is just too expensive and the BPU should not look to bail out multi-national companies on the backs of New Jersey ratepayers.”

Citing an independent study of the economic impact of the ASOW project, Mancini noted that the added ratepayer costs will exceed $100 billion and raise electric customer rates by 55%, 70% and 85% respectively for residential, commercial and industrial customer – throughout the state. The increases in energy will not devastate consumers, but will hurt taxpayers who will be forced to be higher taxes to operate schools, and other government buildings.

“The BPU is not only guaranteeing incredibly high costs for ratepayers, but is also initiating a huge property tax increase in a state that already has the highest property taxes in the nation. ” said Mancini. Property owners will not only have to pay for the increase in the energy they use, but also for the increase in energy use by schools, municipal and county buildings and state buildings.

Mancini said the statewide economic upheaval caused by massive subsidies for wind expensive electric power will be devastating.

“The Shore area will be severely hurt by the industrializing of the ocean. Lost tourism dollars for Ocean County alone are calculated to be $668 million, which will put people out of work and devalue homes in the area. But the impact of that lost revenue and jobs will be felt throughout the state,” said Mancini.

“I want to be clear, subsidizing foreign-owned wind turbine companies and paying an exorbitant increase for electricity is not a Shore problem, it is a statewide problem,” added Mancini.

Long Beach recently passed a resolution opposing industrial offshore wind projects and the mayor said he is sending copies of the resolution to every municipality and county in the state – as well as to state legislators to join the coalition to pause wind turbine construction.

“We are calling on all municipal and county leaders in the state and the state legislature to step up to call for a halt to all offshore wind projects until the entire legislature and county and municipal officials and stakeholders can create an energy plan that guarantees a strong economy for New Jersey,” said Mancini.

The mayor added that the fight against this offshore wind project cannot be ignored by Trenton.

“The stakes are too high for us to back off. We will not stop advocating for the protection of our communities, our ocean and the future of our state,” he said.