Opinion: New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s Energy Future

A Technological And Fossil Dystopia

 

By Bill Wolfe, Wolfenotes

“Meeting the surging demand for electricity requires proven, scalable technologies and the ability to bring them together as integrated solutions,” said Eric Gray, CEO, GE Vernova’s Power segment. “Our work with Blue Energy combines GE Vernova’s flagship HA gas turbine technology with GE Vernova Hitachi’s advanced nuclear SMR technology, while supporting Blue Energy’s innovative project model. Together, we are establishing a blueprint for deploying reliable baseload power at the scale and speed customers need.”

 

This is not a joke.

This is exactly the energy infrastructure being promoted and even deregulated by Gov. Sherrill’s Executive Orders and recent legislation she signed to promote nuclear power and data centers.

It is exactly the Big Data – technological – energy integration model being promoted by former corporate “large load” consultant who was trained in the Silicon Valley culture of “move fast and break things” and now serves as Sherrill’s President of the Board Of Public Utilities.

This is being done under the guise of an “affordable energy emergency”, a rigged PJM energy market, and a manufactured energy capacity crisis = these are classic Shock Doctrine tactics.

These “small modular reactors” (SMRs) are exactly the systems being deregulated by the Trump Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with NO OPPOSITION from Gov. Sherrill, who refused to join a coalition of progressive States fighting Trump NRC dismantling.

Yet for some reason, Gov. Sherrill has gotten no pushback from environmental and climate groups and no negative accountability press coverage.

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Fact-checking Pa Gov Shapiro’s AI Center Guardrails Claim

Gov. Shapiro’s wide-ranging executive order imposes strict requirements on the projects but stops short of a moratorium on development.

Gov. Josh Shapiro at podium in South Philadelphia on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.
Gov. Josh Shapiro at podium in South Philadelphia on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
HARRISBURG — As part of his new, hard-line stance on regulating data centers in Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a news conference last week that his sweeping executive order has the “strictest guardrails in the nation” on data center development.

Fact check: That is technically true, if you exclude moratoriums, or the full-stop pauses on development that have been implemented in two other states.

States around the country have taken different approaches to data centers in the race for AI supremacy — and, subsequently, how to rein in the increasingly unpopular massive developments that some fear will disrupt their communities, drain resources, and increase energy costs.

Governors, including Shapiro, initially welcomed companies that came knocking on their states’ doors, offering billion-dollar investments to build there. As the political tide has turned data centers into widely unwelcome developments among most Americans, leaders have had to adapt—or even change their positions.

The full story here

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And you thought New Jersey was nothing but highways and refineries.

 

 

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NJ Highlands towns pay a steep price to protect your water 

Morristown Daily Record

No one objects to the essential purpose of New Jersey’s Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act.

But for a distinct minority of Garden State towns, the landmark law to protect drinking water for almost 7 million people is drying out their financial resources and jeopardizing the fiscal future of their school systems.

“We want to preserve water and resources,” said Eric Wilsusen, mayor of Jefferson, an expansive rural township in the Highlands that also includes portions of Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey’s largest lake and a popular recreation destination. “We’re all for that. I grew up here. This is my playground. But we’re definitely taking the burden for preserving those resources for the rest of New Jersey. And it’s just, it’s really not fair.

The Highlands Act, approved in 2004 and signed into law by Gov. Jim McGreevey, imposes strict development limits and other restrictions in the region, which cuts through 88 towns across Bergen, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties.

“It’s the place where New Jersey’s densely populated urban corridor gets its water,” said Ben Spinelli, executive director of the state-appointed Highlands Council. “Every day, over 860 million gallons of water are exported out of the region to other parts of the state. There are 332 of the state’s 564 municipalities on the receiving end of that pipeline.”

Read the full story here

 

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The offshore oil company that abandoned NJ, is now exploring Taiwan

The wind farm will use turbines with capacities ranging between 14MW and 22MW. Credit: Jacopo Landi/Shutterstock.com.

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

The Danish renewable energy developer Ørsted has announced plans for a new offshore wind project, Dadu 2, in Taiwan with a planned capacity of up to 22GW. The project will occupy an area in the Taiwan Strait, with the closest point about 38km off the coast of Changhua County. The company is proposing to use turbines with individual capacities ranging from 14MW to 22MW.

New Jersey residents will remember the company’s dramatic withdrawal in October 2023 from its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind projects. The company cited high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain delays for its decision. In May 2024, New Jersey and Ørsted reached a $125 million settlement to resolve financial claims related to the scrapped deals.

The cancellation dealt a major setback to then New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s clean energy goals. Ørsted initially tried to bypass a $300 million completion penalty. However, both sides agreed to a $125 million payout from Ørsted. The state designated these funds for local wind ports, component manufacturing, and clean energy programs.

Despite its disastrous New Jersey experience, Ørsted went on to complete its offshore wind deal with New York State. 

Why? The understanding at the time was that, while New Jersey locked Ørsted into older, lower-priced electricity contracts that became financially impossible to build because of inflation, New York allowed Ørsted to exit those agreements and re-bid its Sunrise Wind project at a higher, realistic price.

Construction of Sunrise Wind is under way, with several key construction milestones already complete. Full commercial operation is expected in the second half of 2027. Once fully operational, Sunrise Wind is expected to be New York’s largest offshore wind project, generating enough electricity to power around 600,000 homes.

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