For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assemblyman John Burzichelli and Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro sent a letter calling on the BPU to stop the Ocean Wind project by Ørsted. The project, which is 15 miles off Atlantic City, is the only offshore wind project currently approved by the State of New Jersey. This was after the BPU voted to open their second offshore wind solicitation.
“What was supposed to be a good day turned out to be one of concern about offshore wind. The reason is that Senator Sweeney and Assemblyman Burzichelli wrote a letter to BPU asking them to stop Ørsted’s offshore wind project. By doing this, they would be delaying and hurting offshore wind from going forward in New Jersey. We don’t believe that their concerns are valid given the need for renewable energy and the jobs that it will create off our coast. We’re concerned that this will throw a monkey wrench into offshore wind. Even if there is some merit to their argument, they shouldn’t be using it to delay or stop offshore wind,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We have been trying to make offshore wind a reality in New Jersey for 20 years. This will keep us from reaching Governor Murphy’s offshore wind goal of 7,500 MW.”
Senate President Sweeney, Assemblyman Burzichelli and Assemblyman Taliaferro are concerned about a lack of progress building a monopole manufacturing facility at the Paulsboro port. Monopoles are the foundations for wind turbines. In their letter, they requested the BPU to terminate the award and start a new, more transparent process for Offshore Wind projects.
“Senator Sweeney is asking the BPU to completely stop Ørsted’s offshore wind project because the Paulsboro plant hasn’t been built. The letter voices concern that the jobs and economic benefits that Ørsted promised are tied to a plant that hasn’t been built. Even though we support having a plant there, it should not be used to delay or stop offshore wind. This will send a chill through the offshore wind industry and hurt the development of offshore wind in New Jersey and along the East Coast. Stopping this project will cause more harm than benefit at this time,” said Jeff Tittel. “New York is already moving forward with a solicitation for 2,500 MW of offshore wind, on top of the 1,700 MW they already awarded last year. If New Jersey gets rid of the 1,100 MW project we already awarded, we will only fall more behind.”
Yesterday, the NJ Board of Public Utilities voted unanimously to open the application window for New Jersey’s second offshore wind solicitation. The solicitation seeks to award between 1,200 MW and 2,400 MW of offshore wind energy. The NJ Economic Development Authority and NJBPU also approved two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to make nearly $6 million available to support offshore wind and other clean energy projects in the state. Out of that, $4.5 million will support NJEDA-led workforce development projects aimed at preparing more NJ workers for jobs in offshore win.
“Offshore wind is critical because it will help create green jobs and move us forward on reducing greenhouse gases. The EDA and BPU are putting $4.5 million toward training programs to prepare workers for offshore wind jobs. This will help New Jersey move forward quickly with offshore wind while building a green economy. Projects like the new infrastructure project for building a port in South Jersey at Hope Creek will create close to 1,500 permanent jobs in manufacturing and assembly,” said Tittel. “The BPU has worked quickly and thoroughly on this big commitment from the Murphy Administration to reduce greenhouse gases and climate impacts. This will make offshore wind a reality even sooner.”
A recent E2 report found that building one average offshore wind farm that produces 352MW, can create 4,313 jobs, $278.9 million in wages, and $702 million to a state’s economy.
“This new solicitation and funding will help make offshore wind a reality in New Jersey, but only if Ørsted’s current project is allowed to continue. Stopping the project will be counterintuitive and will mean that other states like New York might end up robbing offshore wind economic benefits and jobs from us. Given the climate urgency, we need to keep moving forward with offshore wind and clean energy as quickly as possible. Wind energy is renewable, clean, and creates thousands of jobs. Increasing our offshore wind goal to 12.5 GW would mean that offshore wind would create over 150,000 jobs. More importantly, building our wind infrastructure will help prevent unnecessary dirty fossil fuel plants and pipelines from being built,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Moving forward with offshore wind quickly will help us get to a green economy and create thousands of jobs, which are especially needed in a recession. We need to move quickly because climate change is getting worse.”