Big Corporate Subsidy Bill Passes- Heads to Governor’s Desk

The Nuclear Subsidy bill, S2313 (Sweeney)/ A3724 passed both houses today. The bill directs the Board of Public Utilities (board) to establish a Zero Emission Certificate (ZEC) program. Under the bill, a ZEC is a certificate, issued by the board or its designee, representing the fuel diversity, air quality, and other environmental attributes of one megawatt-hour of electricity generated by an eligible nuclear power plant selected by the board to participate in the ZEC program. The bill passed in the Assembly by a vote of 59-10-1  and in the Senate by a vote of 29-7. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“The Legislature just gave PSEG the biggest corporate subsidy in state history: $3 billion for their stockholders at the expense of the ratepayers. The whole bill is just an excuse to subsidize the nuclear power plants. PSEG are getting $300 million a year whether they need it or not. We should not be moving forward with this nuclear subsidy deal when PSEG will get $800 million in subsidies from Trump’s tax cut. PJM is also looking to give them millions in subsidies. Under energy deregulation these plants also received $2.5 billion dollars in subsidies as Stranded Assets, despite being profitable. PSEG still want to take billions of NJ ratepayer money to subsidize nuclear their power plants that are already making money.

“This bill still does not have language for replacing the plants when they close with renewables. This means that when the plants close, they can be replaced with natural gas. They must do an assessment to continue giving the subsidies but the documents they get from PSEG will be hidden from the public and Ratepayer Advocate. The new nuclear bill still does not guarantee the financial transparency needed to ensure ratepayers won’t subsidize profitable nuclear plant. This bill is bad for the environment, the ratepayers, and the workers. This is all about helping PSEG’s bottom line. We need Governor Murphy to veto this rip-off bill.”