Saving Seafood

Murphy restarts big offshore wind plan for New Jersey

February 1, 2018 — ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order Wednesday to return the state to national leadership in offshore wind energy.

New Jersey will finally implement the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act of 2010, which languished under Gov. Chris Christie, Murphy said at a press conference at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority’s wind farm and wastewater treatment plant.

The law creates ratepayer-financing of wind field development through an Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Credit program. But Christie’s administration never finalized regulations to implement it, and developers have not received the approvals from the Board of Public Utilities to move forward, Murphy said.

The order commits the state to quickly generate 1,100 megawatts annually of offshore wind energy, and 3,500 megawatts of generation by the year 2030 — enough to power 1.5 million homes, according to Murphy.

“Thirty-five hundred megawatts would make us, I think, the number one aspirational wind field in the world,” Murphy said. Scale, reliability and predictability will make it possible to attract manufacturing, the governor said.

Environment New Jersey Director Doug O’Malley said New York and Massachusetts have goals of 2,400 and 1,600 megawatts, respectively.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a co-sponsor of OWEDA, said the plan is not just to place windmills in the ocean, but to jump-start a wind-energy manufacturing industry.

Murphy’s executive order directs the BPU to begin the rulemaking process and to work with the Department of Environmental Protection to establish an Offshore Wind Strategic Plan.

The BPU must implement a renewable energy credit program and solicit for projects to generate 1,100 megawatts of electric power.

“This is great news for the people of New Jersey and a positive step forward in bringing offshore wind to the state,” said Thomas Brostrom, president of Orsted North America. The company holds a lease to develop Ocean Wind, a project with the potential to generate 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind about 10 miles off Atlantic City.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City 

 

Richard Nelson: Maine’s balking at new greenhouse gas cap threatens seafood industry

A stellar regional program limiting emissions needs support for stronger goals that will save our fisheries.

August 14, 2017 — As a lobsterman for more than 30 years, I have a direct connection to the ocean and its abundance. It’s how I make my living, and I’ve seen it shape my way of life and the people around me. Fishing and seafood are an inextricable part of Maine’s heritage and culture, and it’s thanks to good conservation practices in the lobster fishery that we enjoy the bounty reflected in our record landings of late.

But keeping this way of life requires a continuation of good decision-making now — not only for the health of our ocean, but also for the health of Mainers and our economy. Cutting carbon emissions is an imperative element of that, and we can’t settle for either the status quo or a return to the times and policies that paid little heed to the environment around us.

One program on the state and regional level that has shown great success already, but now faces an imminent decision on its future, is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. After a 20-month review, a choice must be made on the amount of carbon reduction required — which directly translates into protecting Maine’s people and resources.

Read the full opinion piece at Central Maine