Footprint to Wings Comments on the New Jersey Energy Master Plan

How would you coach the State of New Jersey to win the race to zero carbon? We started by reviewing their playbook, aka the “Energy Master Plan.”

chat Posted Aug 25, 2015 by Rezwan | Category : Contenders New Jersey Strategies
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Public Hearing

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities scheduled three public hearings in August seeking input into the outdated Energy Master Plan (“EMP”). I attended the August 11th hearing at Seton Hall Law School in Newark and spoke on behalf of Footprint to Wings. We also submitted the following written comments.

Written Comments

Footprint to Wings Comments on the NJEMP (pdf)
Footprint to Wings Comments on the NJEMP (docx)

Below is a screen grab of the table of contents. Note: “RPS” is “Renewable Portfolio Standards”; “GWRA” is “Global Warming Response Act.”

What do you think about our comments? How can we improve them? What would you suggest to the State of New Jersey to give them a fighting chance of winning a sustainable, zero carbon world?

EMP Links

For more information on the New Jersey Energy Master Plan see the following:

GWRA Links

The “Global Warming Response Act” (“GWRA”) was adopted on June 14, 2007 by the State of New Jersey 212th Legislature, Assembly No. 3301. The GWRA is referenced several times in the EMP. 

Quoting from the GWRA:

  2.  (New section) The Legislature finds and declares that internationally the issue of global warming has caused alarm, awareness, and action concerning climate changes occurring around the globe attributed to the high level of certain gases called “greenhouse gases” – gases that increase temperatures in the atmosphere and the risk of catastrophic changes to the Earth’s ecosystems and environment; that, while this global warming may be a theory to some, the effects of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are accepted by many respected scientists and members of the international community as seriously detrimental to the ecosystems and environment of the world; that, ultimately, if steps are not taken to reverse these trends, the effects on human, animal and plant life on Earth may be catastrophic; that solutions exist to halt the increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and reduce these emissions; that, as a global issue, each country and region within a country must do its part to reduce these greenhouse gases that threaten the globe; and that, as a State, there are specific actions that can be taken to attack the problem of global warming, through reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the State and participation in regional and interstate initiatives to reduce these emissions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

    The Legislature therefore finds and declares that it is in the public interest to establish a greenhouse gas emissions reduction program to limit the level of Statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generated outside the State but consumed in the State, to the 1990 level or below, of those emissions by the year 2020, and to reduce those emissions to 80% below the 2006 level by the year 2050.

Follow this link for the full text of the Global Warming Response Act.

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