The following environmental legislation will be up in the state legislature on Monday, January 6, 2020.

Assembly Environment and Solid Waste:

A4819(Benson/Pinkin): Establishes goals, initiatives, and programs to encourage and support the use of plug-in electric vehicles.

“Finally, the roadblocks to make EV’s a reality in New Jersey are being lifted. This legislation is more critical because cars and trucks are the biggest source of air pollution in our state. The legislature is now accelerating moving forward with the original bill instead of the weakened one amended by the Murphy Administration. The new version will have the same targets as the original bill of 330,000 EV’s by 2025, 2 million by 2035, and at least 85% of all light duty vehicles sold in New Jersey will be electric by December of 2040. This bill will help kick electric vehicles into high gear. It’s a major step forward in making EVs a reality in our state,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are finally going to put our foot on the acceleration and move forward after Murphy’s staff to cut back and weaken EV goals. Now it is critical that the bill is pushed through committee and will move forward in both houses.”

Assembly Appropriations:

“There are two bills up, A6088 (Burzichelli) and A5741 (McKeon/Pinkin), that are trying to fix the solar program. When Governor Murphy signed the Clean Energy Act of 2018, we said that it would hurt the solar program and cause it to crash. That was a pass-first, fix-later legislation that was only a cover for the nuclear subsidy bill. We said that the bill would lead to the solar market collapsing completely, putting a wrench in our plans to make New Jersey cleaner and greener. Now, the legislature is working on short-term Fix Bills to deal with the damage from the Clean Energy Act,” said Jeff Tittel. “Instead of fixing and expanding the solar program, the legislature are postponing the inevitable crash of the solar market. These Fix Bills do nothing to improve the solar program, and instead continue to undermine New Jersey’s clean energy goals.”

A6088 (Burzichelli): Allows BPU to increase cost to customers of Class I renewable energy requirements for energy years 2022 through 2024, under certain conditions.

“We support this bill because it will prevent the collapse of the solar market, but our concern is that this is a temporary fix. We are heading into a crisis for solar energy, and this bill is just a stopgap instead of a real solution. We have said from the beginning that the cost cap would hurt the solar industry and cause it to crash. This legislation is just a short-term fix that averages the cost cap out over five years to extend the program. Under this bill we can only get to 200 Megawatts per year instead of the 500 MW that we need to reach our clean energy goals,” said Jeff Tittel. “We should be completely getting rid of the cap. We don’t have caps on energy from coal, nuclear, oil, or gas. Having a cap on solar hurts renewable energy and favors fossil fuels.”

The bill would allow the BPU to increase the cost cap on Class I renewable energy requirements if the total energy costs during energy years 2019 through 2021 is less than 9%. Since the solar program went into effect about 10 years ago, solar has become 29 percent more efficient and gone down in price by 25 percent.

“What we need is a real fix, not a temporary one. This bill raises the cost cap and averages it out over five years. If the costs exceed the limit the BPU is still required to set aside the Renewable Portfolio Standard for that year. You also have to factor in legacy SRECs as well as transition SRECs. Our concern is that even with this change in the law it will not allow us to have a robust solar program,” said Jeff Tittel. “We need to remove the cost cap, but we also need to come up with a new solar program that is more cost effective and works for all of New Jersey. This includes looking at other funding mechanisms and regulations to push for solar programs to get done.”

A5741 (McKeon/Pinkin):  Revises law concerning solar renewable energy portfolio standards, solar renewable energy certificates, and net metering..

“Even though this bill does not actually fix our solar program, we support it because it will prevent the program from crashing. New Jersey passed legislation in 2018 that ends the solar program at 5.1 Gigawatt hours in 2021, but we already have 5.8 GWh in approved applications. This bill would increase the solar incentive program to 6.39 GWh in 2026. This is like swerving to avoid a tree and driving off of a cliff instead. The solar market can end by either running out of the program or by hitting the cost cap,” said Jeff Tittel. “These were the flaws we saw in the 2018 solar bill and they are coming home to roost. We opposed that bill because it would lead to the solar market crashing, and now we are getting a temporary Band-Aid instead of a real fix.”

The bill amends provisions in current law to increase the solar program from 5.1 % in 2021 to 6.39% in 2026. There are five times as many jobs in the solar sector than there are in the coal industry. Improving solar energy in the state would make our environment cleaner, fight climate change, and increase green jobs.

“If New Jersey is going to deal with climate change, we need to take steps to reduce GHG emissions and move forward toward reaching 100% renewable energy. This bill is just kicking the can down the road with a temporary fix, and will not allow for a robust solar energy program. Increasing the solar program by 1.29 percent will not get us anywhere near Murphy’s goals of 50% renewable energy by 2030 or 34% solar by 2050,” said Jeff Tittel. “This bill is a short-term fix. We should be making sure the SRECs program reflects the actual cost of certain sectors of the solar market. Improving solar energy in the state would make our environment cleaner, fight climate change, and increase green jobs.”

A3783 (Eustace): Requires owner or operator of certain trains to have discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain hazardous materials by rail; requires NJ DOT to request bridge inspection reports from US DOT.

“We need this legislation and we need it now. New Jersey is already seeing hundreds of shipments of explosive fossil fuels, whether it is bomb trains carrying Bakken crude oil or LNG, and we could be seeing more in the future. PHMSA recently approved a special permit that will allow hundreds of trains carrying explosive LNG through New Jersey communities and neighborhoods. Not only do these hazardous shipments put people at risk by cutting through densely populated communities but they can also cause ecological disaster and water supply nightmares,” said Jeff Tittel. “We need this legislation to protect communities that have dangerous train cars traveling through them every day. It has passed in the Senate and now the Assembly needs to act quickly and get to Governor Murphy’s desk to sign.”

The bill requires operators carrying Bakken crude shipments to have discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain hazardous materials by rail. Previous Bakken train derailments have led to train cars setting on fire, homes being destroyed, forced evacuations of entire towns, threatened water supplies, and human casualties. Governor Christie vetoed this bill when it was originally passed and an attempt for an override was made.

“We need this legislation because if there is an accident or spill, it can catastrophic consequences to our communities. This bill requires the railroad to have a warning system in place and a contingency plan that will deal with any potential spill or accident. This legislation also gives towns important tools to deal with a response or emergency clean up and will give the town notice when a train is coming through. It is important that the state legislature is resisting Trump Administration rollbacks to rail safety,” said Jeff Tittel. “This bill will help protect the people of New Jersey from dangerous spills and derailments. We need our legislature to move quickly on this bill to help protect susceptible communities.”

A4819 (Benson/Pinkin): Establishes goals, initiatives, and programs to encourage and support the use of plug-in electric vehicles.

“Over 45% of our greenhouse gasses in New Jersey come vehicles and our state suffers from failing air levels. This bill is the first major step in reducing pollution and GHG’s from our transportation sector. Now it is critical for the legislature and Governor Murphy to pass and sign this comprehensive electric vehicle legislation. Our state used to be a leader in innovation and transportation and can be again in clean transport. We can see the benefits of clean air and clean jobs if the BPU builds a state-wide network of charging stations, creates green jobs, saves people money on gas, and reduces air pollution. Half of New Jersey’s greenhouse gases come from mobile sources, but these emissions can be easily cut by implementing EV technology,” said Jeff Tittel.

A6102 (Kennedy): Provides two-year exemption for hospitals from requirement to source separate and recycle food waste.

“We oppose this legislation because hospitals should be the easiest place to separate and recycle food waste. We are in a climate crisis and our waste is a major contributor. Food waste that is brought to landfills instead of anaerobically digested or composed contributes to global warming and GHG emissions. As we move toward getting to zero carbon, we need to move towards getting to zero food waste,” said Jeff Tittel. “Hospitals create a tremendous amount of food waste, and they should be one of the simplest places where food waste could be recycled.”

Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee:

S3796 (Andrzejczak): Requires DEP Commissioner to establish individual transferable quota system for menhaden purse seine fishery.

“Menhaden are an important species and the food supply and stability of our fisheries, but this bill would lead to overfishing of this critical fish. Our concern is that the bill will privatize the regulation and mandate by setting up this quote system. By locking in quotas for different fishing interests, we believe it will lead to overfishing. What is an even bigger problem is the trading system of quotas. Menhaden are a critical link to the food web and are known as forage species. This means they function as a food source for larger species like bluefish and striped bass,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This legislation will essentially be a destructive domino effect throughout the marine food chain. It will not only impact these important species, but impact New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fisheries.”