June 6, 2024 — State officials announced they are ramping up the fifth offshore wind solicitation schedule by 15 months, even as a local grassroots organization continues to battle the industrialization of the Atlantic Ocean off Long Beach Island.

Save LBI issued its latest call to action June 2, saying, “Our federal and state agencies are on the brink of approving the first phase of the Atlantic Shores project, the closest, most visible and intrusive offshore wind project in the world, and in the migration path of critically endangered whales.”

For its part, the group said it expects to file a petition to designate the project and adjacent area as a critical migration habit for whales; take on multiple litigation fronts to protect marine mammals, preserve the Jersey Shore experience, prevent electric bill increases and sidestep property value losses, which they estimate at a $1.3 billion loss; and build a coalition with other groups, including municipal officials, to block misrepresentation of the project’s benefits and costs.

“If those entities have their way, this will be your last chance to experience a magnificent pristine seashore, save your shore house and business, protect marine life and keep your electric bills from soaring,” the group said earlier this week. “Once these turbines are placed, they are not coming out. It is not feasible to do so. We will be leaving this blight for generations, a legacy we cannot accept.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

June 3, 2024 — New Jersey will receive $125 million as part of a settlement over Ørsted’s withdrawal from two offshore wind farms last year, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Tuesday, an amount that is less than half of what Murphy once said the company was required to pay the state.

The settlement funds paid by the Danish wind giant over its pullout from Ocean Wind 1 and 2, two 1,100 megawatt wind farms off New Jersey’s Coast, will be used to fund wind development and other renewable energy programs, the governor’s office said. But at least one Democratic lawmaker said the money should be sent back to New Jersey ratepayers as a matter of policy.

“The [Board of Public Utilities] ought to be looking for New Jersey ratepayers first, and these moneys should be reserved to reduce ratepayers’ bills when these projects come on board, and it should be a BPU policy,” said Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union)

Last July, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that would have allowed Ørsted to retain federal tax credits that would otherwise go to offset consumers’ power bills by roughly $2.40 per ratepayer per year. In return for those subsidies, the wind firm was required to post a $100 million performance security and place $200 million for wind project investments into an escrow account.

Read the full article at the New Jersey Monitor