TOM JOHNSON reports for NJ Spotlight | MAY 31, 2019
Advocacy group maintains building new pipelines and other gas infrastructure means carbon emissions will be around for decades
A new study aims to dispel the notion that natural gas could be a bridge to a clean-energy future, suggesting it will instead undermine the Murphy administration’s goal to sharply curb climate-warming carbon emissions.
The report by Oil Change International, an advocacy group promoting renewable energy, recommends phasing out gas and other fossil fuels immediately if New Jersey wants to comply with state laws requiring 100-percent clean energy by 2050 and an 80-percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.
The report aims to bolster the case for blocking the expansion of natural-gas infrastructure in the state, a scenario occurring at the same time that a wide range of clean-energy projects — including offshore wind, energy efficiency and electrifying the transportation system — are under review by the administration.
“New Jersey is now a poster child for proposed fossil-fuel infrastructure that is not needed,’’ said Barb Blumenthal, research director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, referring to proposals to build new natural-gas pipelines and gas-fired power plants across the state.
It points to the dilemma facing policymakers on how to juggle competing priorities to supplying the public with clean but affordable energy. On the one hand, the administration and clean-energy advocates want to shift away from climate-changing fossil fuels but officials fear the loss of a cheap source of energy that has lowered heating and electric bills and helped revive a manufacturing economy still recovering from a decade-old recession.
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