Testa: BPU Overstepping Its Authority with Plan to “Decarbonize” New Jersey

Says Proposal Sets Environmental Policy Outside of BPU’s Purview

Senator Michael Testa said the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) would be overstepping its authority if it adopts a plan to begin the “decarbonization” of New Jersey’s many homes and buildings.

“The BPU doesn’t have the legal authority to use its regulatory powers to set environmental policy for the state,” said Testa (R-1). “While the so-called ‘decarbonization’ of buildings may be a goal of the Murphy administration, the BPU’s plan would increase electricity usage and destabilize our electric grid in apparent contravention of state law. The BPU also has no power to regulate carbon emissions, which is the clearly stated purpose of the plan. For many reasons, the BPU’s electrification proposal is a clear overreach of the agency’s authority.”

The BPU issued a preliminary road map for the “decarbonization” of homes and buildings on June 7.

The proposal’s introduction indicates that it’s intended to reduce CO2 emissions:

“The main goal of building decarbonization (“BD”) is to reduce CO2 emissions in the built environment, including emissions from activities within buildings as well as embodied emissions. In its role as the regulator of electric and natural gas utilities, BPU may more directly influence operational CO2 emissions reductions…”

Brian Lipman, Director of the Division of Rate Counsel, an independent state agency charged with representing the interests of consumers, has said the BPU has no authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

According to NJ Spotlight News, he and others have also warned that the BPU doesn’t have the authority to implement policies that would increase demand on the electric grid and require costly upgrades that could cost billions of dollars.

They have also pointed out that prior efforts by the BPU to set environmental policy for the state through the abuse of its regulatory powers have been blocked by the courts.

“We have all of these red flags that what the BPU is proposing to do is wrong,” added Testa. “Regardless of all the warnings, I have no doubt they’ll continue to rubberstamp Governor Murphy’s expensive, extreme, and dangerous green energy plan and force it down the throats of New Jerseyans. It’s absolutely disgraceful.”

The BPU is expected to vote on the plan on Wednesday, July 12.