New Jersey’s latest update to the Energy Master Plan (EMP), unveiled by Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday, provides an ambitious goal of 100% clean energy in New Jersey 30 years from now, but how we get there has NJBIA worried about how middle-class residents and businesses will be able to afford it.
Ray Cantor discusses New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan on News 12’s Power And Politics
As New Jersey Business magazine reported, the EMP defines 100% clean energy by 2050 as 100% carbon-neutral electricity generation and maximum electrification of the transportation and building sectors, which are the greatest carbon emission producing sectors in the state.
Separately, Murphy signed Executive Order No. 100, which commits the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt a new suite of climate regulations known as Protecting Against Climate Threat (PACT) rules. The regulations will create standards for emissions and require potential climate change impacts caused by any proposed project be taken into account before any new permits are considered.
Ray Cantor, a vice president of Government Affairs for NJBIA, sounded the alarm on cost. In an interview with NJTV, he said the plan does not even attempt to address the cost to ratepayers.
“They did not say what this will mean for anyone’s electric bill,” Cantor told correspondent Briana Vannozzi. “They did not say what it’s going to mean if you have to retro-fit your house.”
Cantor also appeared on News 12 New Jersey’s Power and Politics to debate the merits of the plan with Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. The episode will run today and tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. both days.
Additionally, Cantor has organized a special meeting of the NJBIA Energy and Environmental Quality and Policy Committees on Feb. 20 at NJBIA headquarters in Trenton to discuss the plan and what the business community should do going forward. The meeting is open to NJBIA members. Go here to register.
