TRENTON – New Jersey Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin issued a statement of concern, Aug. 7, concerning the state’s offshore wind initiative. The statement came in response to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announcing its third solicitation for offshore wind projects off the state’s coast.
In the statement, Scutari and Coughlin said, “The legislature has concerns about the BPU’s approach to the offshore wind projects.”
They spoke of “unanswered questions about the economic impact these projects will have on ratepayers.”
The two also pointed to “potential impacts to one of our state’s largest drivers, tourism at the shore.”
The two issues of ratepayer impact and tourism have been center to the arguments made by state and county Republican leaders for months, while the Democratic-led Legislature pushed ahead with a bill to hand federal tax credits to the Danish wind farm developer, Ørsted. Those tax credits would otherwise have gone to New Jersey ratepayers, the very group Scutari and Coughlin now say may not be getting adequate consideration by the NJBPU.
Almost on the heels of the statement from legislative leaders came a letter to Scutari and Coughlin from Cape May County Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, and Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone claiming that the offshore wind facilities now planned are “highly likely to have a substantial negative impact on Tourism.”
The county leaders were joined in their letter by 31 mayors, including Cape May County mayors from Ocean City, North Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Wildwood Crest, Woodbine, Sea Isle City, Avalon, and the three townships of Dennis, Middle, and Lower.
The county and municipal leaders called the statement of concern from Scutari and Coughlin “refreshing” and an indication that the legislative leaders have “taken on the potential negative impacts of the build-as-fast-as-possible approach” of the state. Their letter called the wind initiative “a massive experiment” that shows “little understanding or concern for the many, potential catastrophic, impacts the installation of these industrial power generation facilities will have.”
Scutari and Coughlin’s statement came days after the close of proposals for the third solicitation and after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had given the local industry the affirmative decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
Key members of the Legislature, who Scutari and Coughlin now say have concerns, were present with smiles in abundance when Gov. Phil Murphy signed bills that were beneficial to the Paulsboro Marine Terminal facility partially owned by Ørsted.
While not speaking directly to the statement by Scutari and Coughlin, a spokesperson for the Murphy administration said, “The Murphy administration is firmly committed to New Jersey becoming a national leader in offshore wind development and addressing the ever-increasing dangers of climate change.”
Murphy’s goal remains 11,000 megawatts of electricity generated by offshore wind by 2040. The administration is also pushing its mandate to have all new cars sold in New Jersey be 100% electric by 2035.
Many of Murphy’s actions are ramping up the need for increased electric power at precisely the time when opponents of his wind initiative are claiming attempts to dramatically increase power generation from nonfossil fuel sources is moving too fast, unnecessarily heedless of potential negative outcomes.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
