Trump’s presidency could slow New Jersey’s renewable energy goals • New Jersey Monitor

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House could derail New Jersey’s ambitious clean energy goals.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to claw back unspent money from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, whose clean energy tax credits helped fuel a boom in renewable energy, and in May, on his first day in office, he promised to halt offshore wind projects, repeating debunked claims on the effects of wind survey work on marine mammals.

“The windmills drive them crazy. I think they’re confusing the whales a little bit,” Trump said at a September rally in South Carolina.

His broad opposition to New Jersey’s ambitious renewable energy goals — which include a requirement that the state get 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035 — could hamper the development of wind and solar projects in the state.

Gov. Phil Murphy, who has supported clean energy projects since taking office in 2018, said earlier this month he would try to persuade the new administration with economic arguments rather than those based on climate change, although he acknowledged that Renewable energy could be a hard sell during Trump’s second term.

“It is a ridiculous bridge that has been built between a smart, sensible energy policy that allows us to not have to import energy but make us an exporting state, union jobs, construction jobs and clean energy in America’s most densely populated state.” , he continued a radio show earlier this month. “It ticks so many boxes, and yet it’s labeled ‘woke,’ which is ridiculous.”

Although Republicans are expected to control both chambers of Congress in addition to the presidency, it remains to be seen whether rank-and-file lawmakers will support a comprehensive repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The law sent federal funds for clean energy projects to a variety of states, including many Republican ones.

But even if Trump’s opposition to the law faces opposition from his own party, it could potentially derail other renewable projects through the federal permitting process.

Projects on federal lands require federal approval, and a Trump administration could move to block wind farms in federal waters and solar farms on federal lands, as envisioned in an Aug. 29 Biden administration plan to build large areas Solar farms in 11 western states.

But wind projects, which have faced repeated hurdles in recent years due to rising costs and complicated regulatory systems, could be somewhat spared from federal approval because the long timelines for such projects could take them beyond the end of Trump’s second term, said environmental activist Dave Pringle.

“The good and bad news about offshore wind projects is that they have a very long time horizon,” Pringle said.

Critics of Murphy’s green energy policies hope that a Trump presidency would encourage New Jersey to pursue a more diverse energy future in the coming decades, rather than a sweeping and expensive push toward fully renewable energy production.

“Part of the problem we have as an economy is that all of a sudden they want to literally turn off the switch and keep going… all generating electricity even though we don’t have the capacity,” said Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris).

The fate of New Jersey’s renewable projects may well depend on whether officials manage to convince the Trump administration that its efforts are based on economics rather than environmental protection, and officials are already making that argument.

“I hope the president realizes that this isn’t a cereal venture just because we want to look like we’re awake. This is cold-blooded capitalism and this is smart energy policy for America,” Murphy said.