By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight
The state is debating whether to accelerate New Jersey’s transition to clean energy, a step advocates say is necessary due to a worsening climate crisis, but some fear it could boost already high energy bills for consumers.
A bill to speed that transition (S-2978), is one of two controversial measures discussed during a rare joint meeting of the two environmental committees at a hearing in Toms River on Thursday. It will probably be the primary focus of committee members during the final 17 months of this legislative term.
Related: Divesting from fossil fuels gets a first look
The other bill (S-416), which has been kicked around by lawmakers since 2018, aims to force the state pension fund to divest from fossil fuels, an issue long pushed by environmentalists and others, but so far resisted by the Murphy administration. Thursday’s hearing on the bill was its first despite 44 co-sponsors.
Both bills would sharply curtail the state’s reliance on fossil fuels, probably the most contested part of New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, which aims to have the state rely 100% on clean energy by 2050. The plan has gotten increasing pushback from the fossil-fuel sector, which provides natural gas to heat more than 80% of the homes in New Jersey.
Get a move on
The other bill would ramp up the state’s reliance on clean energy, reflecting Sen. Bob Smith’s insistence the state is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. New Jersey needs to transition to clean energy faster than its current pace, argued Smith (D-Middlesex) who heads the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
His bill would speed the state’s transition to clean energy to 2045, instead of 2050. It also would require that 50% of power used by New Jersey companies by 2030 be generated in-state, a provision that sparked disputes about whether it would increase or lower costs to New Jersey ratepayers who subsidize renewable energy.
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