New Jersery Statre Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (Monmouth – R’s) released the following statement last night regarding news that the offshore wind energy dealings between Orsted and New Jersey are seemingly collapsing:
“Tonight’s announcement by Orsted is not a surprise to those who have been relentless in questioning the Governor’s overzealous “green” energy mandates.
For those of us who simply asked reasonable questions about the long-term, practicable and financial viability of the proposed offshore projects, this is an “I told you so” moment.
We all would love an unending source of energy with no drawbacks. But the wind projects backed by the Governor and Trenton Democrats never seemed to add up – financially or environmentally.
The failure of the Murphy administration to engage in a critical assessment of these projects, and the Democrat-led legislature’s willingness to use taxpayer dollars to fund these risky projects always was suspect to the LD13 team, which is why we called for a moratorium for all offshore wind initiatives back in March 2023.
What is a surprise is the feigned outrage by the Governor in response to Orsted's announcement that it is abandoning these projects. It was quite obvious in June that these projects were unsustainable without substantial financial backing by taxpayer dollars. The Governor and the Democratic-led legislature knew this, and yet, rammed a billion-dollar bailout bill through Trenton for Orsted without any regard for N.J. taxpayers.
We strongly disagree with the Governor’s position to use litigation to resurrect what is ultimately a horrific deal for our State. Rather than spend more N.J. taxpayer funds to make Orsted "honor their commitment,” as the Governor suggested in his statement, New Jersey should instead take legislative action to prevent any further ill-conceived corporate bailouts for foreign companies immediately. We cannot afford any more back-room dealings by this administration.
The urgency for a wholesale change in leadership in N.J. has never been more clear as it is tonight - only with a change in leadership in Trenton will we have a real, logical analysis of the Governor’s green energy schemes and other illogical policies the Democrats have enacted under one-party rule.
The winds are shifting in favor of a new, common-sense leadership in Trenton. The first bill passed in lame duck should be AR181 and impose a moratorium on all offshore wind projects. We hope that given how Orsted has treated New Jersey overall, we would expect this bill to receive bipartisan support.”
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