Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar hosted a meeting with Governors and representatives of Atlantic Coast states to discuss a regional approach to wind energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on Friday. In attendance were Governor John Baldacci (Maine), Governor Donald L. Carcieri (Rhode Island), Governor Jack Markell (Delaware), Governor Bob McDonnell (Virginia), Governor Martin O'Malley (Maryland) and Governor Deval Patrick (Massachusetts) joined via phone.
Here are highlights from a press conference after the meeting:This seems like it a pretty important gathering with Governors from both sides of the aisle and those who couldn't attend were able to call in via phone. So where was our Governor?
Are we not looking to take a regional approach to development of wind energy? It's not like we have a coastline and water to work with. Maybe he sent a representative and no article chose to mention it (I checked 3), but wouldn't you think our Governor would seek out these opportunities for development, especially when they're dropped in his lap? And after all the talking he's done about getting rid of regulations, he skips a meeting on streamlining energy development? Lets hope his lack of attendance isn't an indication of his commitment to renewable energy.
We congratulate New Jersey leaders on the state's 4,000th solar installation. By enacting policies like the state's advanced renewable portfolio standard and strong incentives for solar, New Jersey has become the second largest market for solar in the country. In fact, New Jersey has more solar photovoltaic installations than Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada combined and is second only to California in total solar capacity.
It's pretty impressive that we have more than Texas and Florida combined. You can hear more of the Governor touting the efforts of his administration regarding renewable energy and talking about the ciriticism he has received from some groups over his environmental policies on Blue Jersey Radio the other night by clicking here.
Chris Christie released his energy plan yesterday and while we will certainly have time to look at the specifics, I wanted to point out a fundamental disagreement that Republican members of Congress and co-chairs of his own campaign have with the party standard bearer in NJ.
In announcing his plan, Christie tried to attack Corzine saying he hadn't done enough, while also trying to hook himself to the Obama train. But statements by Republican members of Congress, in justifying their support for the Energy legislation, stood in square opposition to the argument that Corzine hasn't helped New jersey lead the way. First Leonard Lance:
"The fact of the matter is New Jersey and the Northeast are well ahead of the curve on many of the key elements of the legislation before the House.
"Here at home, the state of New Jersey is already subject to limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the ten-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. And our state renewable portfolio standard is more aggressive than the federal program contained in the bill.
"New Jersey serves as a national model for its investments in new, clean energy technologies that have reduced greenhouse gas emissions and created thousands of jobs. I heard from a number of New Jersey's leading businesses that firmly believe today's legislation would strengthen our state economy through innovative and sustainable job creation. It is time for other states to follow New Jersey's leadership and do their share to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate development of low-carbon energy sources and green jobs."
Follow New Jersey's leadership he says. Maybe Lance needs to talk to Christie and bring him up to speed. Joining them in that conversation could be Congressman Frank LoBiondo, who also recognizes New Jersey's role, under the leadership of Governor Corzine in leading the way:
"This is by no means a perfect bill but, for New Jersey businesses and families, many of the federal standards that will be created are mirroring state standards long on the books. For the past decade, New Jersey has been forward-looking in its energy policy and sought to establish diverse, renewable alternative sources of energy to meet the state's needs. From the development of biofuels based on crop waste and planning for additional nuclear reactors, to building small and large-scale wind farms and countless solar panel projects, individuals and municipalities recognized opportunities and took action.
"In the process, new local businesses were founded and jobs were created in the emerging 'green industry' here in New Jersey. What must happen next is the growth of domestic manufacturing of the materials needed for alternative energy production, such as solar cells, wind turbines and environmentally-friendly buildings. This legislation rightly focuses on growing that manufacturing base, creating green jobs and finally establishing our energy independence. The positive effects will be felt nationally and here in South Jersey. These are objectives I have long believed and advocated for as part of a national energy policy."
And four of those ten years were under the leadership of Governor Corzine, who Chris Christie is criticizing. So Chris Christie supports the federal efforts by President Obama, which members of his own party say were modeled after the efforts of our state, under the leadership of the person he is criticizing in the process. This must be more Christie logic.
On the heels of Chris Christie putting out a video talking about his plans for energy, the Corzine campaign is out with a web ad showing some more contradictions for Christie. As the Corzine campaign puts it, he'll say anything and you can't believe any of it. Let's go to the video:
Businesses that invest in energy-efficient projects; combined heat and power, or cogeneration, production facilities; select renewable energy sources; or efficient electric-generation facilities will now have access to interest-free loans and grants of up to $5 million, according to a new program the state's Economic Development Authority launched today.
Commercial, industrial and institutional customers would get 10-year loan terms under the Clean Energy Solutions Capital Investment Loan/Grant program to fund the purchase of fixed assets, including real estate or equipment, according to EDA.
Caren S. Franzini, EDA chief executive, said "More new resources will be unveiled over the next several months as part of the state's clean energy solutions portfolio," in partnership with the state's Board of Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection.
The loans and grants offered through new program are capitalized through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's Global Warming Solutions Fund, in partnership with Department of Environmental Protection, according to EDA.
I love renewable energy, I really do. I would be delighted to own a fully electric car that I could recharge on sunny days with solar panels. Maybe I'll live that long. (I'm still waiting for monorails, too, but ... )
Here's a report on some new wind power initiatives.
But WHY oh WHY do they want to build this stuff OFFSHORE? Okay, maybe they're ugly - I wouldn't know. I LIKE oil refineries, I'm the wrong guy to ask if wind turbines are ugly. I think not. But the ecological issue can't be mitigated much by putting them 16 miles offshore - birds fly out there, too - and the added cost to achieve a NIMBY solution just puts these solutions that much further out into monorail land.
What would be slick - really, really slick - would be to plant the wind turbines ALONG THE ROW's of say, the NJT, the GSP, the ACE ... accessible, easy to service and perhaps adding to the state's deplenished coffers.
The House voted on the CLEAN Energy Act today - legislation that eliminates billions of taxpayer dollars worth of energy industry subsidies and sets that money aside for investing in clean and renewable energy.
The legislation passed with broad bipartisan support, 264-163, with all of New Jersey's Democrats and 4 of 6 Republicans supporting the legislation. Only Rodney Frelinghuysen and Scott Garrett voted to continue subsidizing the energy industry. All New Jersey Democrats were co-sponsors of the legislation.
FOR
AGAINST
Rob Andrews (D) Rush Holt (D) Frank Pallone (D) Bill Pascrell (D) Donald Payne (D) Steve Rothman (D)
Albio Sires (D) Mike Ferguson (R) Frank LoBiondo (R) Jim Saxton (R) Chris Smith (R)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R) Scott Garrett (R)
This is absolutely the right move, though it's possible even this action may come too late. The debate over global warming in the scientific community ended many years ago. It's no longer a question of if we are causing climate change, but whether it's possible to turn it around. We might not know the answer to that for several years or decades so the prudent thing to do is to at least stop making the problem worse than it is.
But we shouldn't be under the impression that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the solution to the problem. Our energy demands are so immense that CO2 output - the biggest human factor on climate change - will continue to increase unless we attack the problem from multiple directions. The figure below shows that the projected CO2 output over the next 50 years will roughly double to 14 billion tons of CO2 per year if the current trend continues.
Just to hold output steady, we need to save 7 billion tons of CO2 by 2050. This paper outlines a possible solution, known as the stabilization triangle. The bad news is that no single approach can achieve that level of savings. The good news is that the technology already exists to solve the problem. The idea is to tackle the triangle one "wedge" at a time, with each wedge saving 1 billion tons of CO2.
Each of the following strategies could tackle one wedge, and possibly a little more: efficient vehicles, reduced use of vehicles, efficient buildings, efficient baseload coal plants, gas baseload for coal baseload power, capturing CO2 at baseload power plants, hydrogen plants or coal-to-synfuels plants, replacing coal power with nuclear power, wind power or photovoltaic power, using wind power to generate H2 for car fuel cells, replacing fossil fuel with biomass fuel, reducing deforestation + reforestation + afforestation + new plantations.
The authors propose 15 wedge possibilities, of which we would need to implement 7 to stabilize our CO2 output. Some will be easier than others. One of the easiest could come from nuclear power, which unfortunately is opposed by many in the environmental movement (NJ gets about 50% of its power from nuclear - our air is bad enough as is...do we want to replace all that with fossil fuel-burning plants?). Hopefully in 50 years when we've managed to hold the line on CO2 output, the first commercial fusion plants will come online and help us actually reduce CO2 emissions.
To have a chance at succeeding, this needs to be a national priority. Our government took a first small step in the right direction today. Let's keep the pressure on to continue that progress.
According to the NY Times, the NJ Senate race is getting one last infusion of resourses. President Clinton was in the Garden State stumping for Menendez and Junior got a visit from President Bush. Well sort of. All kidding aside, Junior out-raised Menendez in the final quarter but Senator Menendez still has about $2M more on hand than Kean, Jr which (trust funds aside) should be enough to rock the NJ vote to a democratic victory. But don't take my word for it, instead tell me what you are doing to ensure a Menendez victory. Are you canvassing? Phonebanking? Driving little old ladies to the polls? Independent voters remain largely undecided, so there is still time to get out there and make a difference.
Remember back in the day -- before the campaign reached a fevered pitch -- when we talked about propTax relief all the time? Well, the legislature in Trentonia is up against a Nov 15th deadline to do something to ease the burden. Anything. After years (decades?) of the highest propTaxes in the free world, I suspect most New Jerseyans are willing to be progmatic if it means relief is forthcoming. I should admit that I am skeptical that homeowners will really get the entire 1/2 loaf, but I am encouraged that Assemblyman (and budget chair) Lou Greenwald agreed to pen a propTax Op-ed for us this weekend, with an update about what's been going on. So, I will reserve any judgement until then.
Some movement on the UMDNJ mess. There is talk about a 3-way merger of universities to streamline costs but this chatter comes on the heels of more scandal. Meanwhile, Wayne Bryant is a turd and since the ethics panel in Trenton is "toothless" it's up to bloggers and citizen activists to sound the alarm bells about Bryant's malfeasance.
Finally, the NY times takes a look at one NJ stragety to tap into renewable energy sources and wonders if the answer (my friend) "Is blowing in the wind." Big wind mills are popping up in Atlantic City. It's a modest start, but it's a start. Any for the naysayers who call the turbines an "eyesore" I say this: all of AC is a bit of an eyesore, so a few windmills ain't gonna mess with the feng shui one bit.
Lots of energy and environment-related news today.
A panel commissioned to study the effects of offshore wind farms recommended the creation of an up to 80 turbine, 350 megawatt wind farm. Call in the Waaaaaambulance! A councilman from Ship Bottom complained: "I think it would detract from the property values of the oceanfront people." Ironic that the most vocal complaints about property values come from those whose homes would be lost first if ocean levels rose even a few feet.
Menendez and Kean Jr argued yesterday over who took more money from the oil industry. If either campaign would like to divest itself of this dirty, dirty money, please note that we accept paypal.
The two also sparred over who drives the most earth-friendly cars. Kean accused Menendez of "criss-crossing the state in a three-ton gas-guzzling SUV that gets 15 miles per gallon," while a spokesman for Menendez responded that the Senator uses a Chrysler sedan or Nissan Altima. Kean's people say that he will use a hybrid Ford Escape SUV starting next week. Starting next week? You know, campaign stunts work better when you don't make it so obvious that you're reacting to the political winds.
Rising gas prices have led to an 11 percent increase in NJ Transit ridership since the start of the year.
After receiving 1400 emails from upset residents, Corzine decided to abandon his suggestion to allow self-service gas pumps and lowering the speed limit from 65 to 55. Smart move. By comparison, only 200 residents have emailed the governor about the proposed penny sales tax increase.
