WEC Staff

October 18, 2022 Gov. Phil Murphy repeatedly has talked about his desire to move the state to a clean energy environment, setting challenging goals while doing so. But, for all the governor has done, more than 50 environmental, labor and health advocates across New Jersey said his actions don’t match his words. They said the governor (and the Legislature) has diverted more than $500 million that is intended for the state’s Clean Energy Fund — a fund that was established to help the state transition to clean, renewable energy sources. “Protecting the Clean Energy Fund in the upcoming state budget is critical to expand a wide range of programs to reduce air pollution, develop clean and renewable sources of energy, lower rates and create good, family sustaining jobs,” they wrote in a letter that was sent to the governor this week. ...The group, in the letter, said the money taken from the fund this year went toward New Jersey Transit’s operating budget. Opponents said there was only vague language about using some of it to electrify the state’s bus fleet. The letter suggests other ways to support NJ Transit, such as federal funding and creating a dedicated, reliable funding source specifically [...]

TRENTON – Gov. Phil Murphy announced the creation of a new working group that will study ways to reduce carbon emissions from buildings in New Jersey. Murphy announced the Clean Buildings Working Group at the state’s clean energy conference being held in Atlantic City. The group will be a collaboration between the Governor’s Office of Climate Action and the Green Economy and the state Board of Public Utilities. Read More: Group created to study how to shift to 'clean buildings' in NJ

ATLANTIC CITY – Governor Phil Murphy today announced the launch of the Clean Buildings Working Group at the Clean Energy Conference. The Working Group, a collaboration between the Governor’s Office of Climate Action and the Green Economy (OCAGE) and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), will serve as a cross-sector collaborative of stakeholders and experts in industry, government, building science, organized labor, environmental justice, and workforce development that will inform pathways to greener, cleaner buildings in New Jersey. Governor Murphy’s bold climate action agenda requires innovative solutions to decarbonize our building sector in order to fulfill the State’s commitment to achieve a 100% clean energy state economy and reduce emissions by 80% from 2006 levels by 2050. Read the entire article here.

TOM JOHNSON, ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT WRITER | SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 | ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT Governor boosts goal for green power, key to carbon-free target New Jersey plans to ramp up its reliance on offshore wind, now with a new executive order from Gov. Phil Murphy to increase the state’s goal for building wind farms off the coast. Murphy, speaking Wednesday at an event in New York City for Climate Week, increased the state’s target of 7,500 megawatts from wind turbines by 2035 to 11,000 MW by 2040. The move underscores the importance of offshore wind in achieving the administration’s transition to a 100% clean-energy economy by mid-century. “This is an aggressive target, but achievable,’’ Murphy said. At the same time, he announced the release of a Council on the Green Economy study that projected the state can expect an additional 314,886 net jobs over the next 10 years based on current green policies and investment. ... “The transition to a green economy will create thousands of good paying, family sustaining jobs for New Jersey workers and offers an unprecedented opportunity to expand our workforce that will ensure fossil fuel workers will not be left behind,’’ said Debra Coyle, executive director of the NJ [...]

NEW YORK – Governor Phil Murphy today signed Executive Order No. 307, increasing New Jersey’s offshore wind goal by nearly 50 percent to 11,000 megawatts (MW) by 2040. The Executive Order, which increases the state’s current goal of 7,500 MW, also directs the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to study the feasibility of increasing the target further. Accompanying the Executive Order, Governor Murphy also announced the release of the Green Jobs for a Sustainable Future report, created by the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Climate Action and the Green Economy. The report outlines recommendations and pathways for growing a demographically representative and inclusive green workforce as New Jersey pursues its clean energy future. Established during Governor Murphy’s first term, the Council is comprised of experts, advocates, and leaders from across industry and organized labor. Governor Murphy directed the Council to prepare the report in order to promote diversity and opportunity in the green economy for environmental justice communities while making pathways to green jobs more accessible for workers, especially union members. ... “The roadmap offers policy solutions that will help create a green economy that will produce good green jobs that are accessible to [...]

NEW JERSEY — It is nice when someone calls you a "hero." But that does not put food on the table for your family, these New Jersey advocates say. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, elected officials and workplaces in the Garden State held parade after parade for front-line and other essential workers, often centering their campaigns on a single word: "hero." But now it is time for them to put their money where their mouths are, according to a coalition of social justice and labor advocates. Earlier this week, dozens of New Jersey essential workers and representatives from several unions and pro-worker organizations paid a visit to Trenton to deliver a letter to state legislators, demanding "hazard pay" for essential employees across the state. Read their full statement here. Signers to the letter included NJ State AFL-CIO, RWDSU Local 108, UFCW Local 360, UFCW Local 1262, UFCW Local 464A, ATU, JNESO, SEIU 32BJ, NJ State Council, Make the Road New Jersey, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ), New Jersey Working Families Party and NJ Work Environment Council. Read the whole article here: Essential Workers Deserve Hazard Pay – And NJ Has The Cash: [...]