Someone Needs To Tell Murphy DEP Commissioner McCabe That We Can’t Get There From Here

Looks Like Commissioner McCabe Didn’t Get The Memo

We’ve previously ridiculed the “moral imperative” on climate change that purportedly drove NJ Gov. Murphy’s recent nuclear bailout and explained how current NJ DEP regulations fail to address climate change.

Today we – very briefly – highlight another huge contradiction between the Gov.’s purported policy goals and his DEP’s actual performance thus far – a performance that makes it impossible to achieve the Gov.’s legislative goals, absent significant policy changes at DEP.

NJ Spotlight recently reported:

Competitive Power Ventures, the owner of a 725-megawatt power plant in Woodbridge Township, is seeking approval to build another natural-gas plant adjacent to its existing unit in the Keasbey section of the community….

The proposal is the fourth natural-gas plant seeking necessary approvals from local and state permitting authorities. But it also raises questions about whether the sector has absorbed the message from the Murphy administration that it wants to have 100 percent clean energy by 2050.

Despite previously reporting on DEP approvals of proposed new gas plants, Spotlight chose to give DEP a pass and merely question whether “the [gas] sector]” has absorbed Gov. Murphy’s message.

The Spotlight story concluded with this “he said” claim (instead of a fact claim):

Environmentalists say the new natural-gas plants conflict with that [Global Warming Response Act] target.

Aside from the meek “Environmentalist say” characterization, and failure to mention the fact that DEP has begun green lighting the construction of almost 2,000 MW of new gas power plants and renewed and issued new permits for major gas pipelines, Spotlight knows that there is really no question that there is a conflict between the proposed new gas plants and Gov. Murphy’s purported goals.

Here’s what Gov.Murphy’s legislation actually says about gas infrastructure:

(7) In order to meet the goals under the “Global Warming Response Act,” P.L.2007, c.112 (C.26:2C-37 et seq.), to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, it will be necessary to significantly reduce emissions from the electric power generation sector. This will require reducing the State’s heavy reliance on natural gas for electric power generation, the primary source of emissions from the electric power generation sector. ~~~ P.L. 2018, c. 16

Did DEP Commissioner McCabe get the memo?

Or Did Murphy not write one?