Gov. Murphy’s plan to require green energy, EVs by 2035 is extreme, expensive and totally unrealistic, Oroho and Bucco say
NEW JERSEY – Senate Republican Leader Steven Oroho and Senator Anthony M. Bucco blasted Governor Phil Murphy’s announcement Wednesday that he is accelerating his green energy plans and will require the use of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035.
“Governor Murphy’s green energy plan is extreme, expensive, and totally unrealistic,” said Oroho (R-24). “It seems the governor was serious when he said he wants to turn New Jersey into the California of the East Coast. Somebody should tell him that’s not a good thing when people and businesses are fleeing California in droves as the Golden State declines under liberal policy failures.”
Governor Murphy announced today that he will change his target date for New Jersey to use 100% renewable energy and require new cars to be all-electric from 2050 to 2035.
While the Murphy administration has failed to provide a cost estimate for the transition as proposed in the governor’s Energy Master Plan, an independent non-profit recently pegged the cost to New Jerseyans at $1.4 trillion between now and the original target date of 2050.
“Governor Murphy’s original goal of forcing New Jersey to go all electric by 2050 was unrealistic at best, but his new 2035 target is nuts,” Bucco said. “If the cost of his extreme energy plan was $1.4 trillion before, I can’t even imagine what it’ll cost to convert in less than half the time. It’ll be an absolutely astronomical financial burden for homeowners, businesses, and taxpayers.”
Governor Murphy’s plan would require natural gas to be phased out for both electricity production in power plants and for heating and cooking in homes and businesses. Around 85% of New Jersey homes are currently heated by natural gas.
The senators said it could cost a typical homeowner tens of thousands of dollars to replace their natural gas furnaces, stoves, and water heaters, while thousands of commercial gas-fired boilers used to heat larger buildings could each cost $2 million or more to replace.
They also highlighted warnings to EV owners in California last year to not charge their cars to prevent their grid from being overloaded on hot days, and similar warnings from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities during the recent cold snap in the northeast.
“When our fragile electric grid is already struggling to keep up with demand, it seems like an enormous risk to force all of our homes, businesses, and cars to electrify,” Oroho said. “There’s no redundancy and there’s no safety net. We’ll be putting people’s lives and our economy at risk so Murphy can earn kudos from his liberal friends.”
The governor has not said how he expects New Jerseyans to pay for the cost of converting their homes and businesses, installing EV chargers, or buying expensive electric vehicles.