Action Alerts
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2011 Draft Energy Master Plan
ANJEC believes New Jersey's Energy Master Plan (EMP) should provide a strong blueprint for ensuring clean, reliable, abundant and locally produced energy supplies while promoting a healthy environment and a vibrant economy. But in its draft form, the 2011 EMP scales back our State's goals for clean energy generation and eliminates key programs that help New Jerseyans make their homes and businesses more energy efficient.
ANJEC supports the following changes to the EMP:
- New Jersey should stand strong in its commitment to renewable energy by maintaining the Renewable Portfolio Standard goal established in the 2008 EMP of at least 30% renewable energy by 2020, and should provide adequate funding to continue promoting clean energy for all classes of ratepayers.
- New Jersey should implement a strong, statewide plan to reduce energy demand at least 20% by 2020, and should provide adequate funding to help all classes of ratepayers make homes and buildings more energy efficient.
- New Jersey should continue to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), one of our only tools to tackle air pollution and greenhouse gasses from power plants, and should permanently dedicate RGGI funds to the clean energy projects for which they were originally intended.
- The EMP should include a comprehensive transportation component with specific strategies to reduce emissions by promoting electric vehicles, mass transit, transit-oriented development and other approaches to decreasing vehicle miles travelled.
What towns can do
We encourage municipalities and individuals to comment on the EMP Draft, either by testifying at one of the three upcoming public hearings or by submitting written comments by Aug. 25, 2011.
The public hearings will be held on July 26 at NJIT in Newark, on Aug. 3 at the State House in Trenton, and on Aug. 11 at Stockton College in Pomona. There is more information on the hearings and how to submit written comments.
We also encourage towns to pass a resolution advocating improvements to the draft EMP to more vigorously promote, support and incentivize energy efficiency and renewable energy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Sample municipal resolution
Hydrofracking
ANJEC has joined other environmental organizations in opposing natural gas development using hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) that threatens the quality of our waterways by extracting millions of gallons of water from the Delaware River and its tributaries. (See letter) The water is then laced with toxic chemicals including volatile organic chemicals and carcinogens like benzene, methyl benzene, and formaldehyde and injected below ground into the well. The process releases these as well as naturally occurring toxic chemicals that are trapped in the shale deposits, and brings them to the surface in the wastewater.
ANJEC supports a ban on hydrofracking and for regulation by the Delaware River Basin Commission to prevent pollution and avoid degradation of the water resources and ecosystems of the Delaware River Watershed.
Some New Jersey municipalities have passed resolutions opposing the dangerous consequences of hydrofracking.
Here are samples of two such resolutions for use by municipalities
- one for towns in the Delaware River Watershed;
- the other for New Jersey communities in the remainder of the state that would still suffer impacts from hydrofracking.
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