EnviroPolitics Blog

How much do data centers affect NJ customers’ energy rates

New law directs the Board of Public Utilities to study the relationship

From the NJ Senate Democrats

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator John Burzichelli and Senator Linda Greenstein that will help determine the impact data centers have on electric usage and consumer costs was signed into law today by Governor Phil Murphy.

The law, S4318/A5466, directs the Board of Public Utilities to conduct a study on the effects these centers have on utility use and ratepayer expenses.

“The high-tech data centers that are proliferating throughout the state consume a large amount of electrical power at a time when energy costs are increasing for ratepayers,” said Senator Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Salem/ Cumberland). “We need to know if their impact on the energy supply is causing rate increases for everyday consumers. This information will help protect residential ratepayers from being forced to subsidize high-profit data centers.”

According to the law, the BPU’s study will determine if ratepayers are incurring unreasonable increases to support the transmission, distribution or generation of power for the data centers and calculate the portion of rates attributable to the demands of these facilities.

“New Jersey is experiencing its own expansion in data centers with the growth of AI-focused computer companies,” said Senator Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer). “This concentrated growth has implications for the regional grid, including an impact on the supply of energy and consumer costs. We need to make sure these centers are paying their fair share and that the costs aren’t falling on non-data center customers.”

The study will assess the need for special “tariffs” applied to the centers to compensate for costs they impose on other PJM customers.

The study will also look at longer-term considerations to see if investments in the power infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the demands of the data centers. The results of the study will be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor within 15 months, according to the law.

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Historic Potteries Site in Trenton, NJ added to EPA Superfund List

From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Trenton, N.J. (July 7, 2025) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding the Historic Potteries site in Trenton, New Jersey, to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) — a critical step that will advance long-term efforts to clean up legacy lead contamination affecting homes, parks, and public spaces across the neighborhood.

“For decades, families in East Trenton have lived with contamination left behind by historic industrial operations,” said EPA Regional Administrator Michael Martucci. “By adding this site to the National Priorities List, EPA is addressing public health risks and laying the groundwork for community revitalization and economic growth.”

The Historic Potteries site includes areas once home to dozens of commercial pottery (ceramics manufacturing) operations dating back to the 1800s. These facilities commonly used lead in glazes and coatings, contributing to soil contamination across East Trenton. EPA investigations identified elevated levels of lead in soil at residential properties, schools, and recreational areas. Long-term exposure to lead, especially for children, can cause serious developmental and health issues.

Since 2018, EPA has worked closely with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the City of Trenton, and community partners to investigate and respond to these risks. Short-term actions—including soil covers and fencing—have already been put in place by EPA at key locations, while today’s NPL designation will allow for comprehensive, long-term cleanup supported by federal funding and authority. Today’s announcement builds on years of previous work already done at the site by EPA and NJDEP to protect the community.

EPA’s Superfund program is designed to clean up the nation’s most contaminated sites and protect communities from harmful pollution. Adding a site to the NPL allows EPA to use federal funding for investigations, design, and cleanup at the site. EPA will also pursue potentially responsible parties for cleanup costs wherever possible.

Visit the Historic Potteries site profile page for additional background and site documents.

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EPA suspends 144 employees who criticized Trump in letter

The letter had accused the Trump administration of politicizing, dismantling, and sidelining the agency

A colonnaded, stone-clad office building stands beneath a blue sky, framed by tree leaves. — The E.P.A. headquarters in Washington. Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

By Maxine Joselow, New York Times

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday placed 144 employees on administrative leave and opened an investigation into their decision to sign a letter accusing the Trump administration of politicizing the agency.

Current and former E.P.A. employees, lawyers, and advocates expressed alarm at the development, saying the agency appeared to be ignoring the employees’ First Amendment rights.

The agency said its actions were warranted because the employees had signed the letter using their official titles and because the letter had denigrated the agency’s leadership. “The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” the EPA press secretary, Brigit Hirsch, wrote in an email.

The 144 employees received emails on Thursday saying they had been placed on leave for the next two weeks “pending an administrative investigation,” according to a copy of the email reviewed by The New York Times. “You are required to provide a current email address and phone number so that we can contact you as part of our investigation,” the email said, adding that the staff members would continue to collect paychecks while on leave.

Read the full story here

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Organic Waste Management Summit 2025 – October 15, 2025

Organic Waste Management Summit 2025 – October 15, 2025 Read More »

NJ Bill ensurers public boat access to state-owned lakes, reservoirs

News From The NJ Senate Democrats

TRENTON – Aiming to ensure that the public has boating access to state-owned bodies of water where boating is permitted, the Senate advanced legislation sponsored by Senators Nilsa Cruz-Perez and Shirley Turner to require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide for public boat access to state-owned and county-owned lakes and reservoirs within two years of the enactment of the bill.

“Private marinas have increasingly been limiting public access to their boat ramps, making many publicly-owned lakes and reservoirs inaccessible unless a resident is a member of those marinas,” said Senator Cruz-Perez (D-Camden/Gloucester). “Without public access, these public bodies of water are essentially privately-owned, enjoyable only by property owners and those who can afford to pay for private access. This bill will ensure that if a lake or reservoir is state or county-owned and allows boating, the public is guaranteed equal access to those waters and its recreational opportunities.”

The bill, S3887, cites the second-largest lake in New Jersey, Greenwood Lake, as one of the main examples of the problem. It is state-owned and maintained with public dollars, annually being restocked with thousands of fish to ensure recreational enjoyment. Despite its status as a significant freshwater fishing location and its maintenance with public funds, there is no guaranteed public access to the lake.

The legislation would remedy the issue highlighted by Greenwood Lake by requiring the DEP to provide for public boat access by constructing or causing to be constructed boat ramps for public access, as well as by entering into long-term contracts with the owners of private marinas subject to a public bidding process.

“Publicly-owned lands and waters ought to be available for the enjoyment of the public, but recent trends have made many of these waters unavailable for use by members of the public,” said Senator Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon). “When tax dollars are being used to maintain these lakes and reservoirs, it only makes sense to ensure that public funding comes with a guarantee of public access.”

The Senate passed the bill in a 39-0 vote.

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In The Race to Power the Future, China Is Pulling Away

Robots at a Zeekr electric vehicle factory in China.
Qilai Shen for The New York Times

By David Gelles in New York; Somini Sengupta in Brasília and in Tirunelveli, India; Keith Bradsher in Beijing; and Brad Plumer in Washington.

In China, more wind turbines and solar panels were installed last year than in the rest of the world combined. And China’s clean energy boom is going global. Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary and beyond.

At the same time, in the United States, President Trump is pressing Japan and South Korea to invest “trillions of dollars” in a project to ship natural gas to Asia. General Motors just killed plans to make electric motors at a factory near Buffalo, N.Y., and instead will put $888 million into building V-8 gasoline engines there. And this week, Congress rewrote American energy policy to strongly favor fossil fuels over cleaner alternatives like solar, wind and EVs.

The race is on to define the future of energy.

Even as the dangers of global warming hang ominously over the planet, two of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States and China, are pursuing divergent energy strategies defined mainly by economic and national security concerns, as opposed to the climate crisis. Entire industries are at stake, along with the economic and geopolitical alliances that shape the modern world.

The Trump administration wants to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels like oil and gas, which have powered cars and factories, warmed homes and fueled empires for more than a century. The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and the largest exporter of natural gas, offering the potential for what Mr. Trump has called an era of American “energy dominance” that eliminates dependence on foreign countries, particularly rival powers like China.

China is racing in an altogether different direction. It’s banking on a world that runs on cheap electricity from the sun and wind, and that relies on China for affordable, high-tech solar panels and turbines. China, unlike the United States, doesn’t have much easily accessible oil or gas of its own relative to its huge population. So it is eager to eliminate dependence on imported fossil fuels and instead power more of its economy with renewables.

The dangers for China of relying on politically unstable regions for energy were underscored recently when Israel attacked Iran, which sells practically all its oil exports to China.

While China still burns more coal than the rest of the world and emits more climate pollution than the United States and Europe combined, its pivot to cleaner alternatives is happening at breakneck speed. Not only does China already dominate global manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, E.V.s and many other clean energy industries, but with each passing month, it is widening its technological lead.