For Immediate Release
January 13, 2012 Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100 New Jersey's Hot Air Report EPA List our Top Greenhouse Gas Polluters This week the Environmental Protection Agency released their first green house gas emissions inventory list. In New Jersey 98 large facilities made the 2010 Greenhouse Gas Emission from Large Facilities list with the biggest culprit being Bergen Electric Generation Facility emitting 2,551,227 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The second dirty polluter is ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery emitting 2,551,227 metric tons of carbon dioxide and close behind is the Linden Cogeneration Facility emitting 2,336,513 metric tons both located in Linden New Jersey. In total all of New Jersey's large facilities emitted 26,271,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The biggest polluters were power plants, refineries, incinerators, and landfills. This data emphasizes the need for New Jersey to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants not only for the environment, but for our public health. Instead Governor Christie has done the complete opposite by pulling New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, taking away funding for clean energy programs, and his overall fossil fuel direction for the new Energy Master Plan.
"This inventory is critical information on why we need to regulate greenhouse gases and combat climate change. With this information we can now understand how much pollution is coming from incinerators, power plants, refineries, and landfills in New Jersey. This data should be eye opening for the people of New Jersey showing how much pollution is being spewed each year. This also clearly shows why we need comprehensive laws and regulations on greenhouse gases," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. Being a coastal state New Jersey should be a front runner when it comes to combating climate change and greenhouse gases. Governor Christie however would rather appease the right wing and the polluters instead of looking out for the best interest of New Jersey and our future. Governor Christie pulled New Jersey out of RGGI, which is an agreement signed by ten northeast states to cut carbon emissions from electrical generation power plants. The emissions would be cut through a surcharge on carbon pollution from the electrical generation plants as well as mandating a 10% cut in carbon pollution from the plants. If New Jersey stays in RGGI this agreement would help to curb the emissions from the polluting power plants from the EPA list. The first 12 projects in New Jersey funded by RGGI proceeds helped New Jersey businesses generate over 167,000 megawatt hours of clean energy per year - equal to the amount of energy consumed by 19,600 households per year - and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 84,000 metric tons. Also the states involved in RGGI this year are working to do further reduction from electrical generation plants and also expand the program to include incinerators and other polluting plants. In addition to pulling New Jersey out of RGGI, Governor Christie has made drastic cuts to clean energy programs throughout New Jersey.
"When the Governor pulled out of RGGI he took side of the Tea Party and polluters instead of New Jersey's environment. RGGI was working by creating jobs and reducing pollution, but instead the Governor gave out more hot air. Maybe he should be put on the EPA list as an emitter," Tittel said. The effects that climate change could potentially have on New Jersey can be devastating from storm surges to flooding. Instead of working to combat the issue Governor Christie's policies will make it worse. We have seen several major floods over the past year on the Delaware, Raritan, and Passaic River. Floods can have effect on environmental areas like the Meadowlands and Barrier Islands. These floods have had devastating impacts on the communities and people that live along these rivers. Flooding in New Jersey will most likely become a regular occurrence and worsen if we continue to ignore climate change. A Rutgers Study showed that climate change could lead to 9% of our coast and barrier islands to be under water. New Jersey depends greatly on coastal tourism and many of our residents live along the coast. In order to lessen these effects we need start investing in clean energy sources now before it is too late.
"New Jersey needs to do more about climate because we are a coastal state. We have had one flood after another devastating communities throughout our state. Unless we do something about climate change when the Giants play the Dolphins in the Meadowlands there could be real dolphins," Jeff stated. Governor Christie's policies have hurt our clean energy programs instead of promoting renewable. He has diverted money from the Clean Energy Fund and has attacked rebates for weatherization and solar programs in our state. Governor Christie has eliminated the Office of Climate Change, took over $400 million in energy funds, and last year he took $63 million dollars of funding from RGGI to balance his budget. Governor Christie also this year delayed the important clean air Sulfur Rule, which would lower sulfur in heating and fueling oils protecting our environment and the people of New Jersey.
"Governor Christie took the side of the fossil fuel industry over renewable energy with EMP. He lowered our energy goals, took clean energy money to balance our budget, which not only hurt our environment but our economy as well. He put thousands of jobs at risk in New Jersey since we have 25,000 clean energy and 5,000 jobs in solar alone. What he was bad for the environment and economy all to please the right wing and polluters at the expense of New Jersey," Tittel said. The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard in the 2008 Energy Master Plan was 30% Governor Christie has cut that goal down to 22.5%. This will jeopardize funding for renewable energy projects for homeowners and small businesses, impacting over 200 solar companies in New Jersey. The new EMP promotes energy sources that will pollute our environment like natural gas plants instead of cleaner alternative like wind and solar. Earlier this year the Governor signed legislation, LCAP, calling for more national gas plants by establishing subsidies for the construction of these plants. By expanding natural gas and building plants this will lead to gas pipelines cutting through sensitive areas throughout the state. Also the natural gas will come from the Marcellus Shale region through the process of fracking, putting our water supply from the Delware River at risk. Instead of subsidizing and promoting clean energy sources Governor Christie would rather continue to pollute our environment and put our public health at risk. Incinerators and landfills also were found to be the top polluters in New Jersey. This shows that we need to do more in regards to recycling and waste. We need to pass legislation like the Bottle Bill, which would alleviate the amount of plastic that enters our landfill by placing a small fee on the bottles encouraging individuals to recycle by getting money back for the bottle. Since 1990 recycling has dropped dramatically in New Jersey. In the early 1990's we recycled over 50% of municipal and household waste and now we are only recycling 37.1%. The less we recycle the more greenhouse gases and pollution we have from emissions from landfills and emissions from manufacturing new products each time.
"People do not even realize that landfills and incinerators are one of the biggest polluter of greenhouse gases. New Jersey's failure to do more about landfills and recycling like the Bottle Bill will hurt our environment and economy. It costs us more the more we put into landfills and incinerators by recycling we save money and our planet," Jeff said. New Jersey has some of the worst air quality in the nation and Governor Christie's policies are just making it worse. Improving our air quality would not only help protect our health, but it will save lives because every year people die from asthma and heart attacks from air pollution. Millions of tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into our atmosphere every year from these power plants, which is shown in this EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory list. Some of the top polluters were our state's coal plants including the Hudson Generation Station and Mercer Generation state. According to a report last year Toll from Coal, 531 people in New Jersey die each year from coal related deaths. We need to work to protect our environment and our health by getting New Jersey back into RGGI and pass legislation that will promote renewable energy growing our clean energy economy.
"This report clearly shows why New Jersey needs to do more to combat climate change and reduce our footprint. New Jersey has passed some of the strongest laws in the nation, but we have a Governor who would rather take the side of the coal industry because of his national political ambitions than side of New Jersey's economy. This information is important because it gives the tools to let the Governor and legislature know that New Jersey needs to do more to fight climate change," stated Tittel. "We need the EPA to adopt federal greenhouse gas rules that the republicans in congress have been trying to block. There needs to be a public outcry at the national and state level to protect future." Here is the link for the EPA Greenhouse Gas Data Tool: EPA Greenhouse Gas Online Tool Below is the list of the top 20 polluters in New Jersey: Bergen Generating Station in Ridgefield, NJ 2,551,227 metric tons of CO2 ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery in Linden, NJ 2,336,513 metric tons of CO2 Linden Cogeneration Facility in Linden, NJ 2,335,127 metric tons of CO2 Hudson Generation Station in Jersey City, NJ 2,181,906 metric tons of CO2 Linden Generation Station in Linden, NJ 2,005,820 metric tons of CO2 Mercer Generating Station in Hamilton, NJ 1,946,818 metric tons of CO2 AES Red Oak in Sayreville, NJ 1,734,574 metric tons of CO2 Paulsboro Refining Company LLC in Paulsboro, NJ 1,649,694 metric tons of CO2 Chamber Cogeneration LP in Carneys Point, NJ 1,435,831metric tons of CO2 Logan Generating Plant in Swedesboro, NJ 1,038,502 metric tons of CO2 NJMC 1E Landfill in North Arlington, NJ 705,684 metric tons of CO2 BL England in Marmora NJ 603,727 metric tons of CO2 Hess Corporation Port Reading Refiner in Pt. Reading, NJ 562,090 metric tons of CO2 North Jersey Energy Assocaties LP in Sayreville, NJ 448,977 metric tons of CO2 Essex County Resource Recovery Facility in Newark, NJ 308,942 metric tons of CO2 Middlesex County Landfill in East Brunswick, NJ 306,076 metric tons of CO2 Union County Resource Recovery Facility in Rahway, NJ 196,746 metric tons of CO2 Camden Plant Holding LLC in Camden, NJ 192,397 metric tons of CO2 Ocean County Land Fill in Manchester, NJ 178,844 metric tons of CO2 Newark Bay Cogen in Newark, NJ 171,376 metric tons of CO2
Nicole Dallara, Outreach Coordinator NJ Sierra Club 145 W. Hanover Street Trenton, NJ 08618 609.656.7612 (f) 609.656.7618