TRENTON, N.J. – Reducing emissions and stopping climate change has remained favorite talking points of the Murphy Administration, an you’re likely to hear a lot more about it over the next year for two reasons. The first is obvious: Phil is up for reelection. The second reason is less widely known: the state’s “Energy Master Plan.” To make a long story short, it’s a comprehensive plan through which Murphy and his allies say they’ll get New Jersey to the point where it’s using 100% clean energy by the year 2050.
It’s going to be expensive. Ratepayers will pay higher rates. Homes and businesses will need to be retrofitted to comply with draconian green regulations. An end to natural gas usage may mean your average natural gas customer will need to shell out $2,000 annually over 20 years.
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The worst part? It won’t really help the climate much at all.
Our friends over at Affordable Energy for New Jersey recently huddled with Dr. Jonathan Lesser of Continental Economics; he made a point with which I suspect few voters are acquainted: New Jersey’s total annual carbon emissions = 3 or 4 days of Chinese emissions. So even if New Jersey reduced its emissions by 60%, 80% or 100%, it wouldn’t make a darn bit of difference in terms of humanity’s total impact on the environment.
Massive cost. No benefit. Got it?
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