Is Gov. Phil Murphy pointing to where he thinks Jersey Shore objectors can take their NIMBY complaints? Seth Wenig (AP photo)
By Heather Richards Energy Wire
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law yesterday stripping local communities of authority over the placement of transmission lines, removing a chief obstacle for offshore wind in the state.
The move, while focused on just one state, highlights national tensions cropping up over a planned acceleration of renewable energy projects that some local residents say are being forced upon them. The battles are likely to increase as a swath of offshore wind projects are considered up and down the East Coast and President Biden pushes to decarbonize the power sector by 2035.
The transmission lines at issue in New Jersey are a crucial component of offshore wind build-outs, providing the necessary conduits connecting offshore wind arrays to onshore electricity grids.
Under the new law, developers can appeal blocked approvals at the local level to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The board would be able to override local government opposition if it deemed that a project’s request to land a transmission cable was just and had followed state requirements.
The legislation was drafted to counter so-called NIMBY — or “not in my backyard” — complaints from coastal residents and leaders, said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the bill’s sponsor.
“To derail state policy for the purpose of shutting down offshore wind — that was their plan, to shut it down — we weren’t going to let that happen,” said Sweeney, who like Murphy is a Democrat.
Offshore wind opposition is not unique to New Jersey.
Just this week, Vineyard Wind, the first offshore wind farm of scale to secure approval from the federal government, was sued by a part-time resident of Martha’s Vineyard with a history of instigating litigation in Massachusetts over its renewable energy plans.
Opposition to raising turbines has also cropped up in beach communities like the Hamptons in New York as proposed offshore wind projects multiply along the Atlantic shorelines. In Ocean City, Md., for instance, local residents say offshore wind projects would be an eyesore that threatens their community’s economy (Energywire, Jan. 24, 2020).
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