For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Anjuli.Ramos@sierraclub.org | Jackie.Greger@sierraclub.org
SC Requests for NJ Budget: End Raids to CEF, Increase $$ for NJDEP, Ensure Electric School Bus Funding
Trenton: Today the New Jersey State Legislature Assembly Budget Committee is holding a public hearing on the FY 2024 State Budget. The Sierra Club, New Jersey Chapter raises four specific asks for the legislature; dedicate a source of funding for NJ Transit, end the raids to the New Jersey Clean Energy Fund, ensure the allocation of funds for the Electric School Bus Program, and increase the budget for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club released the following statement:
“We strongly support and recognize the need for dedicated funding for NJ Transit’s operating budget. NJ Transit is essential to millions of New Jersey residents' everyday lives, and part of our state’s DNA. A properly funded and operated NJ Transit is what we all would like to see. Currently, the Clean Energy Fund is diverted in order to fund NJ Transit’s yearly operating budget. However, considering the availability of federal funds to support transit and the record $10 billion surplus, continuing to use Clean Energy Funds for other purposes other than what is intended for remains egregious and unreasonable. We certainly do not want to see a reduction to NJ Transit’s budget, but rather believe that funds should either come from a newly created dedicated source or the General Fund. The state can fund NJ Transit while simultaneously stopping diversions from the Clean Energy Fund. Thus, we urge the Legislature to do just that, to properly fund NJ Transit without raiding the Clean Energy Fund.
“New Jersey’s Clean Energy Fund is intended to help the state achieve its goals to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy, including subsidies for home energy efficiency projects and electric vehicle purchases. Utility customers support the Fund through surcharges on their monthly bills, and it is only right to use this surcharge for what is intended for. The annual raid on the Clean Energy Fund is a major disappointment from a budgetary standpoint. Taking money from one fund to support another is not a long-term, strategic solution to fix fiscal problems. Raiding is poor financial planning and an unsustainable funding mechanism.
“Since Fiscal Year 2010, lawmakers have raided the Clean Energy Fund to plug budget holes and finance line items unrelated to clean energy. In total, lawmakers have raided $1.98 billion (in 2022 dollars) from the Clean Energy Fund. The diversions include $242 million under Governor Corzine, more than $1.2 billion under Governor Christie, and more than $533 million under Governor Murphy. Link to NJPP report. The full $344 million available in Fiscal Year 2024 for the Clean Energy Fund must be used for its intended purposes - taking action on climate change, supporting clean energy, and improving public health. The future of New Jersey depends on new and exciting investments in clean energy. We need this money, combined with federal funds, to modernize our state and invest in our future. This will ultimately bring lower rates for utility customers and create tens of thousands good, family sustaining jobs.
“The Electric School Bus Program was enacted into law during the Fall of 2022. For the program to officially kick start it requires the dedicated funding requested in the law: $15 million per year for 3 years. The Governor’s proposed budget lists the carried over $15 million for fiscal year 2023, however we need certainty with these dollars and the new allocation of fiscal year 2024 so the program can kick off and run effectively as intended by the law. The NJDEP has already designed the program and is now awaiting the funds to begin bringing the future of school buses to our children and communities.
“Lastly but not least, increasing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s budget. Many of the programs that this government body would like to achieve for our State heavily depend on the NJDEP. From renovating our water infrastructure, cleaning up superfund sites, taking to court egregious polluters of 1,4-dioxane and thousands of PFAS chemicals currently severely contaminating our drinking water, restoring and providing new open space to our urban communities, mitigating the causes of climate change, to planning and implementing resiliency actions in order to keep our towns and communities safe from severe weather and extreme flooding. The programs and actions conducted by the NJDEP are endless, but they lack the staff and resources to do it effectively. This is why we all experience backlogs in program implementation, permit approvals, rulemaking and enforcement actions. The NJDEP is in need of more experts that can take us to a safer future with cleaner air and water and access to well taken care of open space and natural resources. We urge the Legislature to provide a reasonable source of funding so that the NJDEP can achieve what we ask of them.”
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