Leaders Bucco and DiMaio Express Concerns About Offshore Wind Development and Request Action in Letter to Democrat Leadership

Senate Republican Leader Anthony M. Bucco (R-25) and Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio (R-23) sent a letter to Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin expressing concerns about the environmental and economic impacts of offshore wind development in response to recent concerns shared by Democrat leadership.

Senator Bucco and Assemblyman DiMaio encouraged Democrats to reconvene in Trenton to impose a moratorium on offshore wind development in order to increase oversight and research to preserve the marine environment and to protect taxpayers from the burden of higher energy costs associated with the project.

The Republican leaders also attached a letter from county and local elected officials in South Jersey who are concerned about the negative impacts that offshore wind will have on tourism in their shore communities.

“We hope you will follow through on your promise to address these concerns and immediately reconvene the legislature so we can reach a bipartisan solution to these critical issues facing our residents,” the lawmakers wrote.

The full text of the letter is below:

Dear Senate President Scutari and Assembly Speaker Coughlin,

Thank you for expressing your recent concerns about New Jersey’s offshore wind projects. Since wind turbines were proposed along our shores, our Republican caucuses have stressed the importance of conducting proper research to determine the environmental impact and long-term cost of this infrastructure to New Jersey families and businesses. These concerns have long been ignored by the Murphy administration and now our state is beginning to pay the price.

We are forwarding the attached letter from county and local elected officials in South Jersey who are concerned about the negative economic impacts of these developments to our shore’s tourism economies. We hope you will read it and strongly consider their message.
As a result, we are again urging a reconvening of the legislature immediately to place a moratorium on offshore wind development until these critical issues are resolved to avoid higher electric bills, potential loss of marine life, and negative impacts to our tourism economy and jobs.

This issue is now even more pronounced in light of Orsted’s recently reported strong profits in their offshore business, which has caused alarm for our colleagues. As you know, the Senate and Assembly Republican caucuses collectively opposed the State of New Jersey bailing out a foreign company to the tune of $1 billion at the expense of higher electric bills for our families and businesses.

Even Governor Murphy’s own rate counsel highlighted that ratepayers “simply cannot afford drastically higher electric bills” while urging a slowdown of wind development.

While we support sensible and affordable clean energy projects, we cannot support projects that may impose severe financial risks for New Jersey ratepayers. More research and oversight is needed immediately. We hope you will follow through on your promise to address these concerns and immediately reconvene the legislature so we can reach a bipartisan solution to these critical issues facing our residents.

Sincerely,

Anthony M. Bucco

Senate Republican Leader

John DiMaio

Assembly Republican Leader