The New Jersey Senate voted Monday to enshrine into law Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) 2019 energy master plan, a move that would ensure the requirement that 50% of state electricity be renewable by 2030 remain in place if Murphy is not reelected in November (S3667).

The bill, which is sponsored by Bob Smith (D), chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee and Republican Christopher “Kip” Bateman, picks out some of the most salient goals in the master plan to grant them the permanency of law. The goals could otherwise be changed when the plan is revised after three years. (See NJ Unveils Plan for 100% Clean Energy by 2050.)

The Senate approved the bill 25-13, largely along party lines with 13 of the state’s 15 Republican senators in opposition. The Democratic-controlled state Assembly has yet to act on the legislation.

The goals outlined in the law include:

• • • 330,000 light-duty vehicles in the state by 2025;
    • renewables would supply 35% of the state’s electricity by 2025 and 50% by 2030;
    • the state’s mass transit agency, New Jersey Transit, will operate at least one battery-powered train by 2025;
    • offshore wind facilities will generate 3.5 GW of power by 2025 and 7.5 GW by 2035.

The state Department of Environmental Protection would be required to issue an annual report on the state’s progress toward meeting the goals.

Republican Division

After the vote, Republican sponsor Bateman released a statement saying that the plan’s goals are “ambitious” and “reflect a very aggressive approach, but [that] technological advancements make them attainable.

“This will be one of the most environmentally transformative eras since the industrial revolution, and this time we will be clearing the air,” Bateman said. “We are at the starting line of a complete transition of the way New Jersey is powered.”

Other Republicans weren’t supportive. Republican Anthony M. Bucco, who voted against the bill, said it was “premature” for the state to codify the goals before it is clear how much it will cost to reach them. He said the Murphy administration commissioned a report to assess the impact of some of the goals. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) on May 5 approved the hiring of a consultant, who has not been named, to analyze the impact of the master plan on consumer rates.

“Some of these goals are set at a pretty high standard, could come at a high cost not only to residents but high energy users,” Bucco said, urging his colleagues to hold the bill until the report is completed.

Sen. Michael J. Doherty, a Republican who voted against the bill, said he believes the threat of climate change disruption is overplayed and echoed concern that it could be extremely expensive.

“The Earth, it’s a fact, has warmed up and cooled down all by itself. There’s a lot of scientists who say that we may actually be entering into a cooling period,” he said, adding that evidence around the world shows that “windmills don’t work. Windmills are breaking down. Solar panels aren’t working.”

“I foresee New Jersey being even more expensive with a very unreliable power generation system,” he said.

Climate Change `Not Baloney’

Sponsor Smith, speaking before the vote, said the evidence that the state and the nation are seriously threatened by climate change can be seen in daily news reports.

“New Jersey is on a straight line to becoming a piece of (fried) bacon,” he said. “The global climate change paradigm that’s out there is not baloney.” He said the state needs to put goals into legislation to prevent a new governor from  changing them.

“We have experienced what happens when governments change over,” he said. “A recent governor, who will remain nameless, went out of his way to revise the energy master plan goals downward.”

Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who served from 2010-2018, dismayed environmentalists by pulling New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in 2011.

Murphy, who is reaching the end of his first term, will face Republican Jack Ciattarelli a businessman and former assemblyman, in the November election. Ciattarelli, who won his party’s primary on June 10 after falling short in a 2017 bid, was the most moderate of the four Republicans running in 2021 according to NJ Spotlight,, a non-profit news organization.

Ciattarelli’s campaign website, which has yet to flesh out his environmental plan, says of the candidate: “Safe drinking water, clean oceans and waterways, and open space preservation are imperative.  Jack will be a green governor.”

Environmentalists Want More

In a May 11 committee hearing on S3667, Smith said the goal of the legislation is to provide a continuance of the master plan proposals, which he described as a “terrific step in the right direction.”

“The next energy master plan may go backward, not forward,” he said. “So rather than put the goals of the energy master plan in a position where they can be lost, due to subsequent energy master plans, this codifies the goals,” he said. “So the only way they could be changed in the future is by changing legislation and going through the legislature.”

In the hearing, Smith’s bill drew mild opposition from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Clean Water Action, and wholehearted support from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

David Pringle, campaign director for Clean Water Action, said that the organization supports “the concept” of the bill but believes it should be tougher.

“It’s a do-nothing [bill], because the executive is already doing this,” Pringle told the hearing. He said it needs to have more stringent goals because the world has learned more about the need to meet climate change since the master plan was drafted. “The science got changed; the goalposts were moved. You know, the scientists were saying we need 80% reduction by 2050. They now say we also need 45% by 2030. So what we’re asking for you to do is to push the executive farther, not codify what the executive is already doing.”

Smith said it was essential to pass the bill before the legislature breaks for the summer on June 30, and said he feared legislation that goes beyond the goals in the master plan might fail. “If you don’t do anything about making this a statutory goal, a subsequent governor can change the goals,” he said.

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, (NJBIA), opposed the bill, saying it does not believe the master plan, which state law requires to be updated every three years, should be codified into law.

“Circumstances change. Technology changes. Our understanding of facts, the economy changes,” said Ray Cantor, a lobbyist for NJBIA, one of the state’s largest trade groups, said. “We think the current process of the EMP (energy masterplan) works. And if the new governor or the same governor, or the technology changes, the EMP should change. But if you codify its goals through this legislation. It ties the hands of future decision makers.”