The proposed Climate Superfund Act bill, which offers to penalize fossil fuel companies billions of dollars for providing a legal product essential to New Jersey’s survival and prosperity, will be another strike against affordability in the state amid major energy concerns, according to a new op-ed by Garden State Initiative.
“Traditional energy sources have long powered economic growth, mobility, manufacturing, and home heating—and they remain indispensable today,” GSI President Audrey Lane wrote in an opinion piece in today’s Gannett NJ outlets.
“Yet this legislation singles out certain producers while ignoring the businesses and consumers who relied on and benefited from these products, as well as smaller firms engaged in similar activities. Once again, the state is choosing winners and losers in the energy sector.
“New Jersey can pursue environmental progress without sacrificing affordability, jobs, or sound governance. The Climate Superfund Act fails that test. Lawmakers should reconsider before its costs become permanent.”
The Climate Superfund Act, bills S-3545 and A-4696, are scheduled for a Senate committee vote on Jan. 8, just days before the lame duck Legislature ends its two-year legislative session.
NJBIA recently launched a campaign to fight the bill that would set a precedent for any New Jersey company that if they comply with the law, they could still be targeted for billions of dollars in penalties.
While NJBIA has been warning of the cost impacts on consumers of the bill for months, the campaign to fight it begins in earnest with the launch of a short video explainer at njbia.org/letspowerprogress - which describes how the bill will raise energy costs, while removing New Jersey’s energy choice.
In her op-ed, Lane wrote that the bill is “strikingly one-sided in its portrayal of fossil fuels.”
New Jersey residents consume billions of gallons of gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and jet fuel each year—much of it produced right here in the Garden State. Putting these operations at risk threatens not only energy supply, but livelihoods and regional economic stability.
“It focuses exclusively on alleged harms while ignoring their substantial benefits,” Lane wrote. :Traditional fuels account for roughly 90% of transportation energy in New Jersey, 80% of home heating, and about 40% of the energy used by factories and office buildings.
“Over the past century, access to affordable energy has helped double life expectancy and dramatically reduce global poverty and hunger. Any serious policy discussion should acknowledge both costs and benefits—not selectively examine only one side of the ledger.”
To see Lane’s full op-ed, click here.
