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Senate Committee Postpones Vote On Flawed Lame Duck Session Bill

“Never the intention to support solar” ~~~ Chairman Bob Smith

NJ Spotlight reports today that the Senate Environment Committee, after over 5 hours of testimony, failed to even vote on the deeply flawed “clean energy” bill I wrote about yesterday.

Last night, Spotlight TeeVee news broadcast a piece with video clips of a protest by some climate groups and some of the testimony.

Based on Spotlight’s coverage (I did not attend or listen to the Senate hearing), it is incredible that paid climate and environmental justice advocates are so ill informed and appear to not even have read the bill – and that they support it.

This is the latest part of a longtime corrupt and incompetent pattern.

Those activists supported the Global Warming Response Act (GWRA) and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Both have failed to reduce NJ’s greenhouse gas emissions, both eschew DEP regulations, and both rely exclusively on incentives (subsidies) and market mechanisms.

They have supported a series of unenforceable Executive Orders by Gov. Murphy.

They supported the energy legislation to provide over $1 billion in nuclear subsidies.

They supported the environmental justice legislation and DEP regulations, both of which fail to apply to greenhouse gas emissions or emissions from current pollution sources, including the garbage incinerators and sewage treatment plants and their sludge incinerators.

They supported the legislation which allowed NJ Transit to purchase 750 new diesel buses that they now protest.

Yesterday, they tried to use the flawed clean energy bill to fix all these problems that result directly from the flawed legislation they supported!

Let me begin to set the record straight, starting in this post with the NJ Spotlight TeeVee segment, in sequential order.

1) Climate justice protest

Before the hearing, protesters called for “climate justice”.

Yet many of them supported the recent Environmental Justice law (and DEP implementing regulations) which totally ignores climate, greenhouse gas emissions, and garbage incinerators. They make no mention of all that now. WTF?

2) Garbage Incinerators

EJ activist supported the EJ law and DEP implementing regulations, which ignore garbage incinerators. Before that, they praised US Senator Booker and DEP for permits issued to the Newark incinerator. They have never demanded shutdown of those incinerators.

Yesterday, they supported the bill, despite the fact that it would allow those incinerators to continue to pollute.

3) Murphy Executive Orders

As I’ve written many times, Executive Orders are not legally binding on the private sector (and/or “regulated entities” and “regulated activities”). They are not enforceable and only apply to non-substantive administrative operations of the executive branch of State government. So, when Gov. Murphy issues an EO that sets goals for renewable energy, they have no more legal weight than a press release. The Gov. (and DEP) can not compel PSE&G or any other polluter comply with a goal established in an Executive Order. Only laws enacted by the legislature and signed by the governor and legislatively authorized State regulations can mandate private sector actions and be enforced. This is a fundamental legal fact.

Yet, Chairman Smith – a lawyer – totally misrepresented this legal reality and he further muddied the water by falsely using the term “rule”. Smith misleadingly claimed: (time 1:25)

An Executive Order is only the rule as long as that Executive is the Executive. There are no guarantees that the next Governor will be as green as the current Governor.

Smith knows EO’s are not binding and enforceable. He knows that EO’s are not “rules” and do not have the legal force and effect of “rules” (as in “regulations”).

He would get a “F” on a first year law school paper for that garbage.

4) 65% In State Generation Target

Eric Miller of the NRDC apparently didn’t read the bill or he is ignorant of NJ’s electric energy generation profile.

Miller claimed that a 65% in state standard would be “a massive increase from our current level, which is only 25%”.

The bill defines nuclear power as clean energy. In state nuclear power alone currently generates about 40% of NJ’s electric consumption.

5) The bill will save lives

An EJ “warrior” from the totally lame urban development group known as ISLES, Inc. falsely claimed:

The bill will literally save lives. I’m not saying that lightly.

He is full of crap and doesn’t know what he is talking about. The bill will have no impact on current levels of pollution from current in state emission sources. It does not even apply to hazardous air pollutants or the traditional criteria pollutants that cause health impacts (fine particulates, SOx, NOx, et al).

There are major loopholes for “clean energy” from out of state sources. Consider the case of Maryland and the Physicians For Social Responsibility Report: (PEER Report)

A large and growing portion of Maryland’s renewable “clean energy” comes from high-polluting energy sources. In 2019 alone, approximately 40% of the energy attributed to the state’s Tier 1 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) came from “dirty” sources, up by more than a fifth from just the year prior.

The power grid operator, a private corporations named PJM will determine what sources of energy are “clean energy”. The NJ BPU and NJ DEP have no jurisdiction and thus no power to control PJM decisions.

6) Co-pollutants and “Offsets”and Pollutant Trading

Nicky Sheets makes valid points about health impacts from the energy sector and co-pollutants. So why did he support the EJ law and DEP regulations that ignore these problems? Why no criticism of RGGI? Why no strong opposition to this bill on that basis alone?

Maria Lopez-Nuñez of the Ironbound Community Corporation apparently thinks that the intent of the law is to block market mechanisms like pollutant offsets and trading (allowances).The ability to use market mechanisms and offsets and credits and “net zero” bullshit are the intent of the law and other NJ laws like RGGI. They are not loopholes. That is the longstanding policy of NJ.

Where has she been?

7) What is “Clean Energy”?

The definition of clean energy is prone to manipulation and abuse. While it does exclude garbage incinerators (in NJ, not in other states), there is plenty of room for abuse. Take a look:

“Clean electricity attribute certificate” or “CEAC” means a certificate representing the zero-carbon or environmental benefits or attributes of one megawatt-hour of generation from a clean electricity production facility whose electricity is produced in New Jersey or settled through the wholesale energy markets operated by PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., or any successor organization, or such other quantity of generation, as may be adjusted by the board pursuant to subsection a. of section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), to account for the greenhouse gas abatement achieved by the clean electricity production facility.

What does “zero carbon” mean? Does it include carbon emissions based on lifecycle analysis of the nuclear fuel and waste disposal cycles? Does it consider the public health effects and environmental impacts of uranium mining?

The bill uses the word “or” – so what are the definitions of “environmental benefits or attributes”? Many people call Biomass wood burning “net zero” carbon. How does “netting” work? Many other scams and abuses are possible, including hydrogen.

8) Who Determines What “Clean Energy” Is?

The media and activists are creating the misleading and false impression that the NJ legislature and the NJ BPU will have the final say on what energy sources are considered “clean energy”.

But that is false, because of the ability to import power. For imports, the bill explicitly vests that power in the regional grid operator, PJM, Inc.

Much better to think of this bill as a NAFTA for “clean energy” – it will be a giant sucking sound.

9) “Never the intention to support solar”

In closing, let me import a telling quote from NJ Spotlight’ story by Tom Johnson.

Solar advocates said the bill leaves no room for new growth for the sector in New Jersey, but Smith countered the state has provided plenty of incentives for the industry over the past two decades. It was never the intention of the bill to support solar, Smith said.

That’s about all you need to know.