WEC in the News

©Chris Laurens, ElsamAn aerial view of the Kentish Flats windfarm viewed show the wind turbine generators. Story by Amanda Oglesby Asbury Park Press, September 1, 2023 - A Denmark company building New Jersey's first offshore wind turbine project announced this week billions of dollars in losses in its American division due to supply shortages and high interest rates. Wind turbine company Ørsted plans start onshore construction for Ocean Wind 1 — an 11,000-megawatt wind turbine project to be located about 15 miles offshore — this fall. However, supply chain instability and high interest rates are being blamed for pushing the project completion date back to 2026, according to NJ Spotlight News. Twelve environmental and advocacy organizations — including the New Jersey Sierra Club, Environment New Jersey, NJ Work Environment Council and Jersey Renews — urged continued support for the state's burgeoning offshore wind market despite Ørsted's announcement. Read the entire Press Release here.

The wealthiest 2 percent of businesses should be paying more when New Jerseyans are struggling – not getting a tax cut, advocates say. On Friday, members of the For The Many New Jersey coalition sent a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy and other officials, urging them to renew the state's corporate business tax surcharge. NEW JERSEY — Preschool for 37,000 kids. Nearly 5,000 affordable housing units. An estimated 1,500 electric school buses. Doubling the state’s college tuition assistance. These are some of the things that New Jersey could pay for if it extends a “corporate millionaire’s tax” for some of its largest businesses, advocates say. On Friday, members of the For The Many New Jersey coalition sent a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and members of the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees. Their demand? Keep the juice running on the state’s corporate business tax surcharge. ... The letter, which can be seen here, was signed by 28 organizations and labor unions, including: ACLU of New Jersey, 32BJ SEIU, BlueWaveNJ, Clean Water Action, CWA District 1, Environment New Jersey, Healthy Schools Now NJ, Housing and Community Development Network of NJ, Jersey Renews Coalition, Latino Action [...]

Updated: Nov. 15, 2022, 9:15 p.m. | Published: Nov. 14, 2022, 6:26 p.m. The agency that investigates chemical accidents and makes safety recommendations remains short-staffed, threatening it “from efficiently and effectively driving chemical safety change through independent investigations to protect people and the environment,” a federal watchdog reported recently. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has just two of its five members in place, and lacks enough staff to properly investigate incidents and issue reports, according to the inspector general for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the chemical agency. “This isn’t something that’s new for the agency,” said Debra Coyle McFadden, executive director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council. “This isn’t going to change overnight but I remain optimistic under new leadership that the agency can go in the right direction. But it’s going to take time.” Read the entire article here

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.