Nuclear Subsidies Bill Undermines Renewable Energy

The Sierra Club is hosting a press conference today alongside a broad coalition of business, community, and environmental groups. We are speaking out about the nuclear subsidy bill, S877 (Sweeney). We believe that the bill undermines renewable energy and hurts the communities and ratepayers of New Jersey. The press conference is being held on Tuesday February 6, 2018 at 1:00 pm at the Statehouse Annex Steps, 131-137 W State St, Trenton, NJ 08608. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“Every time this nuclear subsidy bill is held or discussed in a meeting or hearing, it gets worse. It’s become a greenscam that gives PSEG a blank check. Each day it gets worse and more expensive. The changes they made to S877 are just spare change when it comes to the environment.  These amendments do not promote renewable energy or energy efficiency. These changes are just empty promises for the environment and this bill is an excuse to subsidize nuclear power. We’re continuing to the fight the nuclear sell-out bill that would undermine renewable energy at the expense of the ratepayers.

“They say they’re making the bill greener but the only green added is more money from ratepayers. Most of the additions regarding renewable energy will only enrich the utility companies and doesn’t have anything to do with helping the environment. This is all about helping PSEG’s bottom line. Their language on expanding the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is deceiving because it’s a level we would get to regardless, rather than an actual aggressive goal. They’re merely using it as a rationalization to give PSEG a massive subsidy. It’s a complex green scam that puts the environment and ratepayers of NJ at risk.

“The new changes give a lot of deference to BPU, they’ve had 20 years to create a renewable portfolio, why would they do it now? The new changes have goals of generating 50 MW of solar, but that is what we are currently using. Before Christie compromised our solar portfolio, we were generating 80MW of solar. Under this bill we would be generating less than that.  There are no amendments for offshore wind goals. All this bill is hot air when it comes to the environment. The bill has goals of becoming energy efficient by dropping energy use by 1% however that is already the standard. Amendments incorporate community solar but there is no standard for what that is. We’re rushing this bill before we get it right.

“The whole bill is just an excuse to subsidize the nuclear power plants. They are getting $300 million a year whether they need it or not. We should not be moving forward with this nuclear subsidy deal when PSEG will get $800 million in subsidies from Trump’s tax cut. PJM is also looking to give them millions in subsidies. Under energy deregulation these plants also received $2.5 billion dollars in subsidies as Stranded Assets, despite being profitable. PSEG still want to take billions of NJ ratepayer money to subsidize nuclear their power plants that are already making money. The new changes to this bill does not take into consideration the millions of dollars PSEG will be receiving from PJM.

“PSEG’s nuclear plants aren’t in any jeopardy and don’t need any financial assistance for at least a couple years. All this is about is taking care of stockholders and bondholders. Two of the plants looking for subsidies, Salem 1 and 2, operate without cooling towers to mitigate for fish kills. Unlike bills in other states, this nuclear subsidy bill does not have any language that protects or promotes renewable energy. This means that when the plants close, they can be replaced with natural gas. This hearing is a shameful start to the new session.

“A new report reveals shameful cooperation between PSEG and the Christie Administration. When you write bills behind closed doors, it never benefits the public. It’s how Government sells out the people to Special Interest. In this case, it’s even worse because they want an open-ended subsidy that could cost ratepayers billions of dollars at the expense of renewable energy. Adding the privacy language shielding PSEG’s financials from the public just shows how underhanded of a proposal this is. They want to hide from the public how much they’re going to get fleeced with these subsidies that PSEG doesn’t need in the first place.

“The Legislature has no need to push through this bill that will severely interfere with Governor Murphy’s clean energy goals. There is zero justification for any nuclear subsidies. It’s nothing more than giving PSEG a blank check from the ratepayer that will undermine progress for renewable energy in New Jersey. This bill hurts renewable energy and ratepayer’s wallets. The bill is nothing but a green scam to rip off ratepayers to raise their dividends and stock prices.”