New Jersey’s Governor Places Energy in the Spotlight

Wouldn’t it be great if our political leaders understood the intricacies of the energy system, passionately supported renewable energy, and wanted to make energy policy one of their top priorities? Well, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey is one leader who fits this profile. To signal the importance he places on energy policy, in mid-December he held a one-day Governor’s "energy summit" in Trenton on the topic of "the future of energy in New Jersey." Organized by the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the event attracted more than 200 sustainable energy devotees not only from New Jersey but from the rest of the northeast to discuss what should be done at the state level.

This special energy day was unusually energizing for those, like us, who were in attendance. We saw evidence that meaningful progress had already been made in implementing renewable energy and energy efficiency. More important, we learned that there is the potential for much greater progress over the next few years because of an unusual congruence of strong political leadership, significant state funding, and a critical mass of sustainable energy supporters in the business and nonprofit spheres.  

Three Appealing Priorities
The governor set an invigorating, hopeful tone for the summit not only through what he said but through his obvious deep knowledge of energy issues and his intense interest in the day’s proceedings, peppering panelists with probing questions. He started the day with an address outlining his three energy priorities for the state, all of which supporters of sustainable energy could readily endorse. First, he wants to promote energy efficiency, through strong standards for appliances, equipment, and buildings.

For example, he had already announced that all new school buildings will need to meet the LEED standard if they are to receive construction aid from the state. Second, he argued that the state should take steps to ensure that energy would be affordable and reliable. Interestingly, he emphasized distributed generation as one important strategy for making the energy system more reliable.

The governor identified renewable energy as the third leg of his energy platform. He proclaimed that he would make it a state priority to develop renewable energy businesses in the state and he promised that the BPU, through the Clean Energy Program, would spend $30 million on renewables in 2003. He also established a renewable energy task force that will report by March 1st with ways to strengthen the state’s renewables portfolio standard and with other ideas for advancing renewable energy.

A New Era at the BPU
Since Jeanne Fox was appointed as president of the BPU, from her previous position as regional administrator of the US EPA, there has been the sense that her agency an entered a more innovative era in which sustainable energy would receive much greater attention. The plenary panel that she organized for the energy summit reinforced this impression. The three speakers she interacted with on the panel all presented strong messages about the need for policy innovation and emphasized clean energy technologies.

Sue Tierney, vice-president of Lexecon and chair of the board of the Energy Foundation, discussed the environmental costs of America’s energy system and outlined policies the state could take to promote efficiency. Scott Sklar, the former head of the Solar Energy Industries Association, discussed the varied benefits of renewables and some of the measures, such as easy interconnection, that are essential to expanding their use.

Alfred Koeppe, president of the Newark-based utility PSE&G, noted that our computer-dependent society needed much greater electricity reliability than in the past. He argued that the electricity system would inevitably need to move towards greater customer choice, environmental improvement, distributed generation, and an economy based on silicon rather than carbon.  

Maintaining the Momentum
Of course, supporters of sustainable energy shouldn’t sit back and wait for government leaders to bring about a golden age of clean energy. For one thing, government initiatives will only work if they take place in conjunction with the efforts of businesses and individuals in the private sector. For another thing, government leaders need the ideas, advice, and encouragement of citizens. Especially in a time of tight state budgets and many potentially competing priorities, it will be tempting for the governor and the BPU to back away from some of the soaring rhetoric and ambitious goals expressed at the summit, so supporters of sustainable energy may need to remind them to stay the course.  

Three breakout sessions at the energy summit gave attendees an opportunity to provide initial feedback. These sessions also showed the way in which many of the state’s agency heads were linking their work to the clean energy theme. Bradley Campbell, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Susan Bass Levin, Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) chaired a session on "Improving Efficiency, Reducing Pollution and Promoting Smart Growth." Jeanne Fox and Seema M. Singh, Public Advocate Designate and Ratepayer Advocate, led a session on "Ensuring Reliability, Affordability and Security." Caren Franzini, Executive Director of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and Scott A. Weiner, Senior Vice-President at Sithe Energies, conducted a session on "Fostering and Developing Renewable Energy Industries."

After the Summit
Over the past two months, the various state agencies have acted on the principles enunciated at the Summit. For example, DCA Commissioner Levin announced the award of $5.1 million to assist elderly, handicapped and low-income people make their homes more energy-efficient. She remarked that, "By helping people cut their heating bills, we're putting more money in their pockets for life's other necessities." She also commented on a $100,000 grant awarded to Isles, Inc. to integrate solar into low income residential units in Trenton: "Governor McGreevey and I are committed to fostering self-sufficiency for New Jersey residents and improving our environment. Solar energy is a great way to do both."

The BPU approved $1 million for installing photovoltaic systems in four school districts. This project, President Fox noted, "is consistent with Governor McGreevey's commitment to build schools that are environmentally friendly and energy efficient, both of which impact the health and welfare of the state's school children." BPU also allocated $5.85 million funding for three projects that will provide over 11 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources and announced $2.7 million to fund proposals for research, business development, commercialization, and technology demonstrations of innovative products and services that will advance the delivery of renewable energy systems to the marketplace. "Our aim is to develop and support a thriving renewable energy industry in the State of New Jersey and to make New Jersey the leader in delivering renewable energy technologies to the global market."

Summarizing the overall thrust coming out of the energy summit, the Governor said, "Clearly, renewable energy is the energy of the future, and this Administration is committed to leading the way."  With various states in the northeast looking to be leaders in renewable energy, we are starting to see an interesting competition emerge among the states. This is certainly one competition that NESEA members can admire and applaud. And no matter which state moves forward fastest, the people of the northeast will be winners.

New York and Massachusetts Make Clean Energy a Priority

New Jersey Governor McGreevey is not the only northeastern governor taking steps that should significantly advance clean energy technologies in their state. New York Governor George Pataki and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney both started off the year with important announcements.

New York
Governor Pataki has long made environmental protection a priority for his administration and he has been supportive of renewable energy. Two years ago, for example, he announced that state buildings would be required to get 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources, with a target of 20% in 2010.

In this year’s State of the State speech, he went much further. Towards the end of the speech, he announced that "I will also introduce a program to improve our environment and reduce our dependence on imported foreign energy by leading the nation in the development and deployment of renewable energy resources like geothermal, biomass, solar and wind power."

The specific proposal Pataki then described was stunning: "I am directing the Public Service Commission to implement a Renewable Portfolio Standard—a program which will guarantee that within the next 10 years at least 25 percent of the electricity bought in New York will come from renewable energy resources like solar power, wind power, or fuel cells." Even though New York already gets 17 percent of its electricity from renewables, primarily from hydroelectric, this would still represent a dramatic increase and gives New York the most ambitious renewables goal of any state in the nation. David Wooley of the American Wind Association estimated that the new program could mean the construction of 4,000 megawatts of new, clean electricity generation.

Massachusetts
During the weeks surrounding his inaugural as Massachusetts’ Governor, Mitt Romney made it clear that his administration would give significant attention to clean energy. He appointed one of the region’s most prominent and effective environmental leaders, Doug Foy of the Conservation Law Foundation, to the newly created position of Chief of Commonwealth Development. In this role, Foy oversees the departments of housing, transportation, and environmental affairs, making coordinated energy and environmental planning for the state much easier.

At the end of January, in a high-profile speech in Lowell, Governor Romney announced that the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust was awarding $9 million to five renewable energy start-up companies to help them grow and create jobs. A new $15 million Green Energy Fund will provide equity capital, loans, and management assistance to other Massachusetts-based renewable energy businesses. Romney noted that he wanted to refocus the Trust Fund’s "assets in such a manner that it can become a major economic springboard for the Commonwealth by focusing on job creation in the renewable energy sector." His speech signaled that his administration would give high priority to renewable energy development for both economic and environmental reasons.

The next day, in a move promoted as a cost-saving measure, but one that would have significant environmental benefits, the Romney administration announced that it was considering eliminating the use of all but the most essential state-owned SUVs and would replace them with less expensive, fuel-efficient vehicles. Foy pointed out that "The price tag for SUVs is 50 percent more than regular cars and it's 50 percent more to operate. Aside from the environmental issue, it's a budget issue in these austere times."

In some cases, rather than purchase cars to replace the SUVs, government employees might use cars in the Zipcar fleet, a pay-by-the-hour car-sharing service.  

Warren Leon is Executive Director of NESEA. Michael Skelly heads the Eco-Living Fellowship, serves on NESEA’s Board of Directors as Treasurer, and is Chair of the Solar Energy Association of New Jersey.