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Three more Republican lawmakers call for a pause to NJ’s offshore wind projects

Assembly Republican News

SOUTHERN SHORE LAWMAKERS SAY UNPRECEDENTED WHALE DEATHS WARRANT SUSPENSION OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

TRENTON, N.J. – Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan are intensifying calls to suspend offshore wind projects following an unprecedented number of whale deaths along the coasts of New Jersey and New York. They join a chorus of concerned elected officials and environmental and commercial fishing groups who are worried the push for more offshore wind development has contributed to the death of seven whales in a little over a month, including two on the endangered species list.

Despite the opposition, Gov. Phil Murphy continues his aggressive green energy goals, which call for increasing offshore electric wind generation to 11,000 megawatts by 2040. To date, three offshore wind projects have been approved by the state Board of Public Utilities. One would add 98 wind turbines in Ocean and Cape May counties and others could produce as many as 350 along Atlantic County’s shoreline.

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“It has been clear for a long while that the wind projects as proposed may pose significant impact risks to the local environment,” said Testa (R-Cumberland). “Our coastal communities and the thriving commercial fisheries and recreational fishing activities rely upon a healthy and safe ocean and these projects unnecessarily imperil that which is unacceptable. Until the proponents can assure our region that these projects are not playing a part in these incidents, it would be wise to suspend the work.”

The South Jersey state lawmakers have spoken out against Murphy’s energy plans alongside fishermen and entrepreneurs whose jobs depend on the coastline.

“We believe that the work related to offshore wind activities is the primary difference in our waters and an investigation should be done as to why these magnificent marine mammals are dying in alarming numbers,” McClellan (R-Cape May) said.

Simonsen echoed calls for an investigation, saying, “It is essential that there is transparency and accountability for what has been such a tragic loss of sea life. Our whales must be safeguarded before any further progress can be made.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Cape May County), state Sen. Vincent J. Polistina, Assemblyman Don Guardian, and Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-Atlantic County) have also demanded a halt to offshore wind activities at the Jersey Shore.

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NJ Gov. Murphy pulls back on state’s new Energy Master Plan

The latest delay highlights the bumpy road the administration faces trying to reach its clean-energy future

By TOM JOHNSON, ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT WRITER, NJ Spotlight

Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday unexpectedly shelved public hearings slated to begin this week on the state’s Energy Master Plan, adding to the uncertainty about his ambitious clean-energy agenda as it moves forward.

In a press release issued by his office, the governor announced stakeholder meetings that were to begin Thursday would be put off until later this year. The aim was to update the plan, which lays out a detailed blueprint for reaching Murphy’s target of a 100% clean energy economy by 2050.

The plan, broadly supported by the environmental community and clean-energy advocates, is facing its most sustained questions yet, with a particular focus on proposals to develop a robust offshore wind industry along the New Jersey coast and electrify buildings by phasing out the use of natural gas.

Avoiding potential political fallout

With all 120 legislative seats up for election this November, the delay of any updates to the plan could avert tough election-year decisions for the administration that have the potential to further increase energy bills for consumers, who already have been hit with higher heating costs this winter.

“After five years of bold climate action in New Jersey, we must not only assess our progress to date, but renew our commitment to a clean-energy economy while taking stock of the breadth of resources at our disposal,’’ Murphy said.

The current master plan, adopted in 2019, set a strategic decision to overhaul New Jersey’s energy system and its associated greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants while building a new green economy and creating jobs.

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Maine’s honeybees climate’s latest victims

A bee works on collecting nectar from a fruit tree in West Bath, Maine on Monday, April 30, 2012. Honey bees in Maine are increasingly under pressure from parasitic mites and climate change, which has led to more colony collapses. Credit: Pat Wellenbach / AP

By Julia Bayly, Bangor Daily News

Maine honey bees are dying at an alarming rate thanks to climate change. Over the last two years, beekeepers in the state have reported losing up to 50 percent of their bees annually. And it’s going to get worse, according to a top bee expert in Maine.

Drought, extreme weather events and drastic winter temperature swings helped put starvation and hive robbing as two leading causes of bee deaths last year for the first time, according to Jennifer Lund, state apiarist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Honey bees in Maine and around the country were already in trouble due to the invasive parasitic Varroa destructor mite, the number one killer of bees. Now beekeepers have to contend with wild weather.

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Facing competition, Tesla cuts prices

From Industry Week

Tesla on Friday announced it will cut the price of its best-selling electric vehicle models up to 20% in Europe and the United States, launching a price war as more rivals hit the market.

Shares in the Elon Musk-led company have plummeted for more than a year and fell as much as 4.5% in early trading on Friday, before recovering some lost ground.

“It’s no secret that demand for Tesla is starting to see some cracks in this global slowdown for 2023,” said analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.

However, Ives said the price cut was the “right move” and “a clear shot across the bow at European automakers and U.S. stalwarts (GM and Ford) that Tesla is not going to play nice in the sandbox.”

Tesla has already lowered prices twice in China in recent months and offered rare promotions in North America late last year.

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Congressman George Santos’s story grows curiouser and curiouser

*Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), currently under federal investigation, leaves Capitol Hill on Jan. 12. (Will Oliver/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)*

By Isaac Stanley-Becker and Rosalind S. Helderman, WaPo

Andrew Intrater and his wife each gave the maximum $5,800 to Santos’ main campaign committee and tens of thousands more since 2020 to committees linked to him, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Intrater’s cousin is Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his role in the Russian energy industry.

The relationship between Santos and Intrater goes beyond campaign contributions, according to a statement made privately by Santos in 2020 and a court filing the following year in a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a Florida-based investment firm, Harbor City Capital, where Santos worked for more than a year.

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After drought turn to floods, can seasonal weather forecasts be trusted?

Forecasters in California didn’t see it coming

*Water floods part of a road by the San Ysidro Creek near the closed Highway 101 in Montecito, Calif., on Tuesday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP)*

By Dan Stillman and Diana Leonard, Washington Post

Coming into this winter, California was mired in a three-year drought, with forecasts offering little hope of relief anytime soon. Fast forward to today, and the state is waterlogged with as much as 10 to 20 inches of rain and up to 200 inches of snow that have fallen in some locations in the past three weeks. The drought isn’t over, but parched farmland and declining reservoir levels have been supplanted by raging rivers and deadly flooding.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) issues seasonal forecasts of precipitation and temperature for one to 13 months into the future. The CPC’s initial outlook for this winter, issued on Oct. 20, favored below-normal precipitation in Southern California and did not lean toward either drier- or wetter-than-normal conditions in Northern California.

However, after a series of intense moisture-laden storms known as atmospheric rivers, most of California has seen rainfall totals 200 to 600 percent above normal over the past month, with 24 trillion gallons of water falling in the state since late December.

Floods, landslides, sinkholes: See the devastation of heavy rain in California

The stark contrast between the staggering amount of precipitation in recent weeks and the CPC’s seasonal precipitation outlook issued before the winter, which leaned toward below-normal precipitation for at least half of California, has water managers lamenting the unreliability of seasonal forecasts.

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