Source: Cozen O’Connor’s Energy, Environmental and Utilities Group “News Concerning Recent Developments in Energy and Environmental Law” Newsletter, August 16, 2011
On June 7, 2011, Governor Christie release a draft version of the 2011 New Jersey Energy Master Plan (EMP), which outlines New Jersey’s immediate and long-term energy policy. The governor’s office and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) reassess the plan every three years and are statutorily required to make revisions to it at least every decade.
BPU has scheduled three public stakeholder meetings to discuss the EMP, the first of which occurred on July 26, 2011 at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Additional meetings took place on August 3rd and August 11th. While the plan has been praised for its support of solar installations and the development of off-shore wind energy, it has been criticized for lowering New Jersey’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) goal of 30 percent by 2021 (which had been set by Governor Corzine in the 2008 New Jersey Energy Master Plan) to 22.5 percent. Governor Christie has stated that the 30 percent goal is unrealistic given that New Jersey’s current RPS is at 2.3 percent. Transcripts of the stakeholder meetings and published comments can be found here.