More Crap From The Crowd That Can’t Even Cheerlead Straight

After 4 Years, The Murphy Administration Has Adopted Zero Climate Regulations And Increased GHG Emissions

Murphy DEP Has Abdicated, Outsourced, & Privatized Climate Adaptation Responsibility

“Resilience” Projects Are Outdated and Fail To Address Climate Science

The Murphy DEP Press Office Is Flat Out Lying

In the wake of another climate emergency driven extreme weather event that wiped out NJ, before the floodwaters receded, the Murphy DEP congratulated themselves: (NJ Spotlight)

The Murphy administration strongly defended its efforts to both reduce carbon emissions — “mitigation” — and to prepare the state for a changing climate — “adaptation.”

“The Murphy administration has been working tirelessly to reduce and respond to climate change, as is evidenced by multiple climate executive orders, ambitious clean energy goals and aggressive environmental regulatory reform,” said Kelley Heck, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, on Friday.

That is a “Heck” of a lie. Let’s take them one by one.

1. Yes, there have been “multiple climate executive orders” issued by the Gov.

But Executive Orders do not have the force and effect of law, they are are not binding on the private sector or enforceable in any way. They have not reduced any greenhouse gas emissions. These are facts that the public does not understand and NJ Spotlight never tells readers. Worse, each Executive Order was accompanied by a self congratulatory and grossly exaggerated and misleading press release, with the same sycophants cheerleading and being quoted by NJ Spotlight, a former news outlet that has become an arm of the administration’s propaganda.

2. Yes, there have been somewhat ambitious clean energy goals – for off shore wind (the Murphy administration nearly killed the solar industry).

But Wall Street friendly off shore wind goals have not reduced greenhouse gas emissions and the wind industry and the Murphy BPU Energy Master Plan embrace a policy that wind is compatible with and reliant on natural gas (a fossil fuel). This is an obvious fact that my friend Jeff Tittel makes clear: (NJ Spotlight)

“Just building windmills and solar panels does not necessarily reduce greenhouse gases because you still have gas-fired power plants and pipelines being built, and automobiles, so we’re not really doing the mitigation to the level that is absolutely necessary to mitigate the damage from climate impacts,” he said.

3. But the third misleading claim is a flat out lie.

There has been no “aggressive environmental regulatory reform”.

In fact, there has been NO regulatory reform at all. NONE.

After almost 4 years of press releases and window dressing, DEP has adopted absolutely no climate regulations. Take a look for yourself at DEP rule adoption website.

The Murphy DEP has not even rescinded the Christie DEP regulatory rollbacks (unlike the Biden administration, who at least has acknowledged and begun to rescind and strengthen over 100 Trump EPA regulatory rollbacks. Where is Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order directing DEP to rescind and strengthen Christie DEP rollbacks?)

But, while doing absolutely nothing to adopt DEP climate regulations, the DEP has issued hundreds of permits to multiple massive new and/or expanded sources of greenhouse gas emissions, including pipelines, power plants, LNG export facilities,  industrial air polluters, roads, buildings, and logging NJ forests – all without even considering the GHG emissions, relationship to climate goals, or climate impacts.

(and let’s not forget the Gov.’s multi-billion dollar nuke bailout).

With respect to “adaptation” and “resilience” – based on DEP Commissioner LaTourette’s own words – the DEP has largely delegated those responsibilities to local government and/or relied on or assumed that market forces would respond to information disclosure of climate risks and current climate science. DEP has also relied on and/or funded and outsourced programs to private groups – e.g. NJ Future, Sustainable NJ, American Littoral Society, et al – to plan for and develop “resilience” plans and projects.

[Update: 9/19/21 – asa prime example of outsourcing, consider this from Hoboken, a “resilience” project that like Jersey City, also failed: (Fund For A Better Waterfront)

Hoboken was just one of ten sites impacted by Sandy to be selected for the federal River Rebuild by Design program. The Dutch design firm OMA assembled a team of engineers, planners and experts that came up with a comprehensive flood mitigation plan dubbed Resist Delay Store Discharge.

Most of the $230 million Rebuild by Design grant, now managed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, is dedicated to building the Resist segment. ~~~ end update]

Worse, as I recently wrote, those projects are designed to fail because they were designed to meet outdated DEP regulatory standards that do not reflect climate science.

So, to put it mildly, this horrible record does not deserve praise.

But, just one day after Jon Hurdle published a story with mild criticism of the Murphy administration’s climate record, the Murphy sycophants immediately responded with another boatload of bullshit: (Tom Johnson)

Asked Thursday whether the state needs to accelerate its clean-energy goals, Gov. Phil Murphy, while inspecting a portion of Mullica Hill in Harrison Township devastated by a tornado, quickly answered, “Unequivocally, yes.’’ He did not elaborate.

“I think he’s spot on,’’ said Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, a group that called for meeting the state’s 100% clean-energy goals by 2035 in a report issued last month. “This is an opportunity for our elected officials to meet the challenge.

Gov. Murphy’s other main cheerleader also immediately manned the pom-poms and ignored the Murphy record, the facts, and the science:

“The most important [off shore wind] ones are the building over the next five years,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. Building those projects will help create a supply chain for future projects, he said. “We are going to see offshore wind expand in the 2030s.

Potosnak and O’Malley should be ashamed of themselves.

How do their members and donors put up with this crap?

[End Note – a knowledgeable reader expanded on the lies:

The lies are unreal. The 100 % clean energy 2035 goal is a lie – its  2050. The definition of clean is 30 % nuclear- 12 GW bio gas (wind is 11 GW )  plus incinerators , bio mass ,CCS And off sets  – its at least 20% natural gas in 2035

Doug lies on wind the 2009 EMP called 3000 mw by 2020 –

so this bs of 1200 to 2400 mw as increases-Biden calling for 15GW for NJ ~~~ end]