Trash Incinerators Don’t Deserve NJ Clean Energy Subsidies: Advocates

NEWARK, NJ — Several advocacy groups with ties to Newark are demanding changes to a proposed state law intended to promote “clean energy,” which they say turns a blind eye to trash incinerators.

The bill, S-2978/A-4658, was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Environment and Energy Committee in August. It is scheduled for a hearing on Thursday. Read the full text here.

If it becomes law, the bill would revise the state's renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS), the provisions in law that require each electric power supplier and basic generation service provider to sell a certain percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources each year.

Here’s what it would do, its sponsors say:

“Specifically, the bill would provide that, beginning in 2030, the RPS for Class I renewable energy (Class I RPS) would apply to the total electricity sold in the State after subtracting the amount of electricity generated by existing nuclear power plants and "zero-carbon" electricity sources that begin operation after 2030. The bill would define a "zero-carbon electric generating facility" as "any electric power generation facility that does not emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity." The bill would also require that, beginning in 2030, at least 50 percent of the renewable energy certificates (RECs) used by an entity to satisfy the Class I RPS be generated in New Jersey. The bill would also extend the Class I RPS to require that, beginning in 2045, 100 percent of the energy sold at retail in the State be from Class I renewable energy sources. The bill would also provide that the current RPS for Class II renewable energy, which requires that 2.5 percent of energy sold at retail be from Class II renewable energy sources, would expire in 2045. Finally, the bill would clarify that the Class I RPS may be satisfied by purchasing and retiring RECs.”

Five advocacy groups have since put out a call for the “immediate removal of the requirement to source energy from municipal waste incinerators or resource recovery facilities under New Jersey’s RPS program.” They include the Ironbound Community Corporation, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, South Ward Environmental Alliance, Clean Water Action, and Earthjustice.

Here's the problem, advocates wrote in a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy, Sen. Bob Smith and Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak:

“We write to urge that Senate Bill No. 2978 / Assembly Bill No. A4658 (An act concerning the State’s renewable energy portfolio standards and amending P.L.1999, c.23) be amended to provide for the immediate removal of the requirement to source energy from municipal waste incinerators or “resource recovery facilities” under New Jersey’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) program. We strongly agree that S2978/A4658 should remove incinerators from New Jersey’s RPS, and thank you, Senator Smith and Assemblyman Karabinchak, for your leadership and foresight to include this in the Bill. But we need this fix now, not in 2045. New Jerseyans should not have to wait an additional two decades before the RPS subsidizes only those zero-emission energy sources that promote air quality and public health in the state, instead of harming New Jersey’s already overburdened communities.”

Advocates continued:

“For years, we have raised the issue of incinerators’ unwarranted RPS subsidies with the Department of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities. Incineration is the most emission-intensive form of generating electricity in the United States, emitting more pollution per kilowatt hour than coal. Over the four years between 2015 to 2018, New Jersey’s five incinerators collectively emitted over 10,000 tons of air pollution and nearly 7 million tons of greenhouse gasses. These incinerators have violated their air permits over 1,700 times since the RPS program began in June 2004. The state’s three largest and most polluting incinerators are located in the environmental justice communities of Newark, Camden, and Rahway, and are some of – if not the – highest single emitters of smog and soot-forming pollutants, lead, and mercury in the surrounding counties. There is thus nothing clean or renewable about incineration, and incinerators do not deserve any subsidies as clean energy, let alone the over $50 million received from ratepayers so far under New Jersey’s RPS.”

Their letter concluded:

“But S2978/A4658, as currently written, would not remove incineration from the RPS until 2045, providing, “This requirement [to source 2.5% of energy from “Class II renewable energy,” including incinerators,] shall expire on January 1, 2045.” New Jersey ratepayers cannot wait another 23 years and spend additional tens of millions of dollars before they no longer must subsidize dirty incineration under the guise of a clean energy source. Other States that made the mistake of including incinerators in their RPS programs have already taken swift action to remove incineration, and New Jerseyans should not have to wait decades before New Jersey does the same. We need truly clean and zero-emission energy sources – not incinerators – to supply the energy required under New Jersey’s RPS. So instead of waiting until 2045, S2978/A4658 should immediately remove incinerators from New Jersey’s RPS. As explained in the attached Appendix, this can easily be done by amending the Bill so that it deletes all reference to “resource recovery facility” in NJSA 48:3-51, and amends NJSA 48:3-87(d)(1) to allow both Class I and Class II Renewable Energy Credits to satisfy the 2.5% RPS requirement.”

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