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Oct. 20 to 26
Withdrawal From RGGI
Two years of soaring prices for electricity have angered voters, who are demanding relief. That in turn has placed the issue of energy prices squarely in the middle of the campaign for governor in New Jersey. One of those candidates, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, says if elected he will take the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, of which the Garden State was a founding member in 2005.
Ciattarelli says the move would make a significant contribution to lowering rates. In his first debate with Democrat Mikie Sherrill, he said, “By pulling out of RGGI, we can save half a billion dollars a year for ratepayers.”
The Initiative is a regional cap-and-trade system with 11 participating states. It is intended to lower greenhouse gas emissions while also providing funds to the member states for use in clean energy programs.
Electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels purchase tradeable emissions allowances at annual auctions.. They pay for the right to put otherwise illegal emissions into the atmosphere. By controlling the allowance amounts annually the states lower emission output while collecting millions from the plants, which goes to a fund that each state can proportionately draw from.
Ciattarelli says the “air is not cleaner” when he speaks of the results of the RGGI Initiative, while defenders of the program say it has contributed to a significant drop in emissions over 20 years.
Those opposed to the Initiative say the costs the utilities pay for the allowances is bundled by them into the supply price of electricity and can contribute to higher rates for consumers. Advocates point to the monies paid by the utilities as funding allowing the purchase of electric trucks and buses, building charging infrastructure, funding decarbonization efforts and supporting environmental justice programs in communities overburdened by pollution.
The RGGI was established under acting Gov. Richard Codey, a Democrat, in December 2005. Republicans have generally not favored the Initiative, and Republican Chris Christie pulled New Jersey out of the program in 2012. When Democrat Phil Murphy replaced Christie, he had the Garden State rejoin the Initiative.
Mikie Sherrill has focused on other areas for lowering electricity rates. She has made no comments on the RGGI.
Disaster Relief Funds Are Dangerously Low
The latest reports show FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund down to roughly $9.5 billion. One year ago FEMA officials warned of dangerously low levels of relief funds when the balance was $11 billion and the agency was responding to hurricanes Helene and Milton. These are the funds that pay for direct aid and staff deployments when a disaster strikes.
Insiders told Bloomberg News that the agency might have to resort to prioritizing immediate response efforts in the case of a disaster before funding is increased. The agency’s ability to respond is hampered even more by the fact that the federal government is now in its fourth week of a shutdown.
With the Trump administration pushing more of disaster response responsibilities to the states, a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts places New Jersey among the states most at risk for financial trouble if a disaster strikes. The report argues that if a storm similar to Sandy were to hit the Garden State today and the federal government were not to respond with the kind of aid it did in 2012, the burden would completely wipe out the state’s reserves and impact the its ability to provide services.
Colin Foard, one of the authors of the Pew Report, warned that states need to do a better job of budgeting for economic downturns and disasters, as opposed to “building the airplane while it is flying.” Pew Researchers also urged the federal government to consider the limitations states face in disaster relief before reducing or cutting off disaster aid. The Pew Report says that New Jersey has received average annual federal aid for disasters of $500 million.
FEMA’s immediate problems with its disaster relief funds, the direction of federal policy with respect to disaster assistance, and the low level of reserve funds available in the state’s coffers all combine to paint an unfavorable picture of how well the Garden State would be able to respond in the face of a disaster like Sandy.
Voting Underway
Voting has begun in earnest. As of Oct. 24 a full 8% of Cape May County voters had cast their ballots via mail-in voting. Those votes will represent an even higher percentage of the total vote once we know what the overall turnout is.
Counties began sending out mail-in ballots on Sept. 20. As of Oct. 25, mail-in ballots received by election officials across the state totaled 444,706. Of those, 63.1% are from voters registered as Democrats and 21.2% are Republicans. Unaffiliated voters returning ballots represent 15.7%. It is important to note that a voter registered with one party may have voted for another party. Party ID at this stage is not a count of actual votes.
During the 2021 general election, the last time the governor’s chair was on the ballot, Cape May County cast 20.6% of its votes by mail. In that election there were a total of 7,942 mail-in ballots. So far in 2025, voters in the county have returned 6,328 ballots.
In 2021 just under 52% of registered voters in Cape May County turned out to vote for either Jack Ciattarelli or Phil Murphy, with Ciattarelli garnering 63% of the final vote. The only county municipalities that gave Murphy a majority were the three on Cape Island: Cape May City, Cape May Point and West Cape May.
Polling results in these last few weeks of the campaign all show Sherrill in the lead. Three university polls conducted in early through mid October show Sherrill with anywhere from 5- to 7-point leads. The Fairleigh Dickinson poll has Sherrill leading 52% to 45%, Rutgers-Eagleton has it 50% to 45%, and Quinnipiac says 51% to 44%. A more recent Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll, Oct. 15 to 20, shows a 12-point lead for Sherrill, 52% to 40%.
With one day of early in-person voting in the books as of this column’s deadline what we note is that voting was brisk but not on a par with the record number of voters in last year’s presidential election, which saw 1,172,842 ballots cast early in-person.
With Election Day about a week away, the big guns are entering the fray. Donald Trump spoke at a tele-rally for Ciattarelli, and former President Barack Obama will campaign with Sherrill in Newark.
Week in Review
*Interviews with two news outlets and comments made by County Commissioner Will Morey provide new insight into the possible future of the Cape May County Airport property.
*A well-placed swat of the hand helped lift the Lower Cape May Regional football team over Cumberland and preserve a homecoming win for the Caper Tigers.
*After several years of double-digit increases in the cost of premiums, Lower Township has joined the list of Cape May County municipalities that have withdrawn from the State Health Benefits Plan.
*While North Wildwood was under a state of emergency due to the nor’easter on Monday, Oct. 13, just before 2 p.m. a driver took his vehicle onto the beach and became stuck, authorities said.
*Nine of Cape May County’s 16 towns have municipal offices on the Nov. 4 ballot. Two of those nine races have contests; in the remainder, the candidates are unopposed.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council has authorized an emergency appropriation of $650,000 to pay for a boroughwide reassessment.
*Ocean City’s long-discussed plans for a modern public safety facility once again have a new look: The latest one calls for demolishing the current structure on Central Avenue and building a new one at the same location.
*A Cape May County grand jury handed up 16 indictments Oct. 21.
*Frank Stone, president of Lazarus House Ministries, had somber news for members of the Greater Wildwoods Chamber of Commerce at its recent luncheon: Business is booming.
*The president of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. told federal regulators Oct. 21 that while the reliability of the electricity grid has been high, challenges are increasing, and “the risk to reliability continues to mount.”
*Upper Township’s business administrator says that Strathmere’s dunes are in “severe” condition after the Oct. 12-13 nor’easter.
*Two Democrats are challenging the incumbent Republicans for their 1st Legislative District seats in the state Assembly in the Nov. 4 election.
*Two candidates with significant legislative and electioneering experience are winding up their campaigns to become governor of New Jersey on Nov. 4.
Spout Off of the Week
Go easy on the youth of this county. They are outnumbered by grumpy old people that have zero idea what it’s like to be a kid in today’s messed up world. Hand out candy, slow down when kids are on bikes, maybe even say hello!
Cape May County
