Sierra Club: P$EG Subsidy Bill Is Up
P$EG Subsidy Bill Is Up
The Nuclear Subsidy bill, S2313 (Sweeney)/ A3724 (McKeon) which directs the Board of Public Utilities (board) to establish a Zero Emission Certificate (ZEC) program is up in Senate Budget and Appropriations at 2pm and Assembly Appropriations at 1:00pm on Thursday, April 5th. The bill supports Chris Christie’s original negotiations to give PSEG subsidies for their nuclear plants in New Jersey. The legislation could impose billions of dollars in additional costs on utility customers. It may force ratepayers to pay $300 million in subsidies annually just to support nuclear power.
“The bill is up once again and each time it gets worse. It becomes a bigger giveaway and subsidy to PSEG. PSEG should stand for public subsidy energy grab because they want a $3 billion subsidy for their nuclear plants that don’t need funding. This bill is the biggest subsidy and rip-off in the history of New Jersey. It will undermine renewable energy and cost ratepayers millions of dollars,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “There are some positive changes to the two new bills however it is still a green cover for the nuclear subsidies. This is the 7th version of the bill. It’s like Dracula, it keeps dying and coming back. The bill keeps coming back because the special interest wants your money. This is why we must tell the legislature no to the nuclear subsidy bill.”
The latest version of the clean-energy bill makes several changes in the state’s solar program, including phasing out an existing system for financing solar projects by June 2021. The new bill also revises a cap designed to rein in costs to subsidize solar for ratepayers from 7 to 5 percent to 9 to 7 percent. The rationale is to limit future costs utility customers pay to promote solar energy in New Jersey. More significantly, it exempts offshore-wind projects from being included in that cap, a provision clean-energy advocates say would have undermined aggressive goals to develop the technology.
“The green part of the clean energy bill is nothing but a green scam because the cost cap will undermine our renewable target. You can’t raise rates on consumers by more than seven percent a year on the RPS. This means they’ll be buying expensive out-of-state power. They could shut down the green-energy stuff in New Jersey and lead to the bankrupting of countless projects. This is a fraud that actually works against renewable energy. This is no cap for coal, oil, gas or nuclear so it would be unfair to undermine renewable energy by placing a cap on it. Our concern is the cost of solar SREC program, which have been analyzed to take up 6% of the cap, whether it’s a 7% or 9% cap. This leaves no room for New Jersey to move forward to meet targets of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (50% by 2030),” said Tittel. “We strongly oppose any cap on renewable energy. We believe that the cap is a concept being used by the right wing to block renewable energy altogether.”
There’s also no language in the bill that prevents PSEG from selling the plants after they get the subsidies. There’s also nothing in the bill to protect workers. Even if PSEG gets the subsidy, they can still lay off workers to increase revenue. There isn’t even language that includes a closure plan with a just transition for the workers. There’s also no language for replacing the plants when they close with renewables. This means that when the plants close, they can be replaced with natural gas.
“The new nuclear 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,” said Tittel.
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.
“The nuclear bill, now three separate bills, keeps changing but is still a green cover for a nuclear subsidy bill for PSEG. It’s a complex green scam that puts the environment and ratepayers of NJ at risk. We need to keep fighting this bill because it’s nothing but a complex green scam that puts the environment and ratepayers of NJ at risk,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “There is no need to push through this bill that will severely interfere with Governor Murphy’s clean energy goals. It’s nothing more than giving Public Service Enterprise Greed a blank check from the ratepayer that will undermine progress for renewable energy in New Jersey. This bill hurts renewable energy and ratepayer’s wallets. The only green thing about the new nuclear bill is the money PSEG is getting from the ratepayers.”
The Nuclear Subsidy bill, S2313 (Sweeney)/ A3724 (McKeon) program is up in Senate Budget and Appropriations at 2:00pm and Assembly Appropriations at 1:00pm on Thursday, April 5th
