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Nobody pays much attention to New Jersey, and I can’t always blame them, but the big issue in the state, especially in beachfront communities that derive much of their income from tourism, were the offshore wind farms.
Offshore wind farms have been a mess in the UK, but New Jersey was going to be the big launching pad in America. Cape May, which is fairly conservative, turned out protesters and pointed to the rising number of whale deaths, but nothing was going to stop Gov. Murphy from ramming through the offshore wind farms that no one wanted.
New Jersey is poised to enact a controversial law that supporters say will help save the state’s footing in the fledgling wind industry, especially amid the fight against climate change, while opponents decry it as a corporate bailout for a foreign company that will lead to higher energy rates.
The Democratic-controlled state Legislature voted along party lines Friday afternoon to narrowly pass a Democratic-sponsored bill that would allow Ørsted, the Danish energy developer chosen to construct New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm, to keep millions in federal tax credits that would otherwise go to ratepayers.
Murphy’s administration, which aims to have New Jersey run on 100% clean energy by 2035, tapped Ørsted to develop wind turbines 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City to power 500,000 homes in a project called Ocean Wind 1. Construction has yet to formally begin.
And now never will.
It’s the same familiar story that we’ve seen in Michigan, Illinois, Delaware and now New Jersey. Lefty politicians bet big on green energy and offer major subsidies to foreign companies to come in and make their green energy dreams come true. The politicians sell the massive giveaway as creating lots of new working class jobs.
And then the company ducks out.
Orsted, the company that Democrats up and down the Eastern Seaboard have been counting on to build offshore wind farms, is pulling the plug on two of its largest projects, a setback for President Joe Biden’s clean energy goal.
The Danish energy company said Tuesday night that it was killing plans to build a pair of wind farms in New Jersey.
The decision dents Biden’s climate change plans and also dashes New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s hopes of his state being a clean energy leader before he leaves office in 2026. It also comes a week before legislative elections in New Jersey, where Democrats are trying to hold their majorities in the face of Republican attacks over wind power.
Murphy trashed Orsted and said the state would still become a “global leader” in offshore wind.
“Today’s decision by Orsted to abandon its commitments to New Jersey is outrageous and calls into question the company’s credibility and competence,” the governor said in a statement. “As recently as several weeks ago, the company made public statements regarding the viability and progress of the Ocean Wind 1 project.”
It also calls into question Gov. Murphy’s credibility and competence. Murphy pressured New Jersey into a sweetheart deal with a foreign company at the expense of customers, local residents and even the whales. He ignored all the warning signs and now he’s attacking the credibility and competence of the company he bet on all this whole time.
But green energy just doesn’t work.
“Green” energy = $green$ grift; a confidence game of the highest order. If indeed there is a future for future historians to write about, it will be portrayed as one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the American people, right next to the COVID jab.
And global climate warming change.
None of the “green energy equipment” can be built without the massive input of fossil fuels, nothing.
It’s almost comedic, if it wasn’t so tragic, all these big government projects messing up the economy. For one thing, the projects often aren’t completed on time.
I was just reading a long article about the SF Bay Area switch from rail to roads after WW2, now they want the rails back. They used to have a great rail system, I got to ride on it a few times as a kid in the 1950s. The politicians in charge of the switch to roads were such buffoons.
Hey Greenpeace Where are you Greenpeace? off sailing around in your Fossil Fuels Ships again?
Wind and solar might contribute a little, and I mean a little, to the grid, but they are never going to be the grid. Simply not possible.
The residents of Cape May might have had some influence. If so, the rest of us should take heed. Pushback on a national level is needed, NOW.
wattsupwiththat.com also has commentary on Orsteds decision. Some excerpts:
“Local officials and communities in New Jersey, who had been at loggerheads with Ørsted and other state and federal agencies, welcomed this decision. They had been voicing their concerns and opposition against the potential impacts of the Ocean Wind 1 project.”
And:
“This is a great day for the people and businesses of Cape May County,”
“said Len Desiderio, director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners, reflecting the relief and vindication felt by the local communities.”
And this good news:
“The cancellation of these projects is not just a setback for Ørsted but also dents the ambitious renewable energy goals of the United States. It came shortly after the Biden administration announced the final approval of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which was touted as a significant milestone in the U.S. renewable energy landscape.”
And the obvious:
” Ørsted’s decision brings to light the tumultuous waters that renewable energy projects are now starting to regularly encounter.
“Macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically over a short period of time, with high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain bottlenecks impacting our long-term capital investments,”
said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO Americas at Ørsted.”
Are the good people of America finally sensing blood in the water? I hope so.
The Welsh Government has just last year pumped billions of tons of sand from the Dee/Mersey estuary onto Colwyn Bay beach. In the process they killed millions of fish and other wildlife.
They have hundreds of wind turbines that are allegedly environmentally friendly. The pollution from the concrete bases is scattered all over the north Wales beaches.
They spent millions on new council offices that, just four years later are unused.
They claim to be green!
Corrupt is what they are just like every other green scam.