Please sign onto the comments below by responding directly to Rebecca Lubot at rebecca@njsbnetwork.org with name, title and organization name – they will be submitted by COB this coming Monday, September 22.
We are thankful for the opportunity to submit broad comments on behalf of XXXX environmental organizations, community groups and businesses across New Jersey to NJDEP regarding the latest three-year strategic plan to invest auction proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
RGGI is a program that works, and New Jersey was a leader more than 20 years ago in the ultimate creation of the regional program – and its execution of putting a price on power plant climate pollutants and investing in clean energy solutions. Over the last five years, the program has supported roughly 400 projects, avoided more than 7.5 million tons of carbon pollutants, generated more than $1.8 billion in savings for ratepayers, generated more than $1.03 billion in revenue and avoided 8 million MWh of electricity and 39.4 million MMBtu of fossil fuel use.
New Jersey rejoined the program in 2019, after Gov. Murphy in his first weeks in office, signed Executive Order 7 to return New Jersey to the program, which was followed by NJDEP regulations to comply with the Governor’s EO. In a notable example, NJEDA launched the NJ ZIP (NJ Zero-Emission Incentive) Program which has deployed 261 vehicles, from small delivery vans to larger semi electric trucks. The NJZIP program alone has avoided more than 407,000 metric tons of climate pollutants.
The most recent 2022-2025 RGGI Strategic Plan, with its funding allocations divided between the NJEDA, NJDEP and the NJBPU, provided funding for clean transportation, building decarbonization, coastal habitat and forest carbon sequestration and an expanded green bank. Most notably, the investments for RGGI have been kept in a lock-box through the annual state budget process with no raiding of the funds to ensure that funds are providing long-term benefit to climate pollutants reduction and a more resilient and efficient energy grid.
We welcome additional investments in the new Strategic Plan including electric grid modernization & energy storage and building the clean energy manufacturing and the clean energy supply chain. But we are strongly opposed to the Sixth Initiative to supplement ratepayer relief through the NJBPU. While certainly it addresses a symptom of the premeditated crisis of rising utility bills because of PJM’s flawed capacity auction process, it does not solve the root of the problem. RGGI was never designed as a pass-through program for ratepayers. It was created to have a long-term impact on lowering climate and air pollutants, and to have a long-term benefit for the electric grid, generate more clean energy to shave peak demand pressure on the electric grid, expand energy efficiency programs and expand clean transportation bidirectional charging to provide more grid stability.
The RGGI program is designed to have a long-term impact on our electric grid, energy demand and climate pollutants that are fueling the deadly impacts of climate change across New Jersey – and has already saved ratepayers nearly $2 billion. We need to double down on these investments if we want long-term solutions for the energy capacity auction crisis generated by PJM.
Sincerely,
Thank you for helping to raise the sustainable business voice in support of transitioning to a more vibrant clean energy economy.
NJSBN is a state affiliate of the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN).
“Our affiliation with ASBN enhances NJSBN’s credibility with New Jersey policymakers, business leaders, and members of the media. The ongoing ability to engage with ASBN and its network helps us to better serve our members as we work together to influence positive systemic change at the state level.”
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