Bring Offshore Winds to New Jersey

To the Editor:
Regarding your article about the B.L. England pipeline, I’d like to thank Senator Van Drew for his commitment to pursue energy alternatives to coal burning at the B.L. England plant. South Jersey residents have suffered long enough from the pollution spewing from that tower. However, his stated goal of bringing in a natural gas pipeline is what Elon Musk would call 1900’s thinking. Trading one fossil fuel for another isn’t progress; coming into the 21st century and switching to renewable energy is.
Jobs would still be created in the process of building a solar field and wind turbines on the 386 acres at the B.L. England plant. Ratables for Upper Township would be retained by using the site to generate and distribute electricity, as well as the electricity to be generated from off shore wind. And it’s here, pushing for offshore wind, that we really need you, Senator Van Drew and Assemblyman Andrzejczak.
It’s been over three years since Governor Christie signed the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act. But there has been no progress furthering this program to bring offshore wind to New Jersey’s coastline. We are blessed with the ideal location for offshore wind, a source of power successfully used in Europe for over 20 years. It’s time New Jersey takes the lead on the Atlantic Coast to bring this clean, reliable energy to our shores, to provide much needed jobs and to cut carbon pollution from fossil fuels. Please change course and push in Trenton for the program to bring offshore wind to New Jersey.