Advocacy Groups Call on Murphy to End Budget Raids on Clean Energy Fund

Kim Gaddy, of the South Ward Environmental Alliance in Newark, speaks at the Clean Energy Fund press conference, Jan. 12, 2023, in the New Jersey State House, Trenton. (Steve Lubetkin Photo/State Broadcast News)Kim Gaddy, of the South Ward Environmental Alliance in Newark, speaks at the Clean Energy Fund press conference, Jan. 12, 2023, in the New Jersey State House, Trenton. (Steve Lubetkin Photo/State Broadcast News)

Correction, 1/13/2023, 7:18 a.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the woman seen speaking at the 1/12/2023 press event. It is Kim Gaddy, founder of the South Ward Environmental Alliance in Newark, not Janet Booker, shop steward of local 32BJ of the SEIU union.

TRENTON (SBN) – New Jersey labor, environmental, health and advocacy groups gathered at the State House Thursday to demand that Governor Phil Murphy keep a years-old commitment to end raids on the Clean Energy Fund to pay for other state budget priorities.

Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, says the groups are warning that New Jersey could lose momentum on the transition to clean energy if the money is siphoned off and used elsewhere.

“During the governor’s administration, there’s been roughly $500 million has been raided from the Clean Energy Fund,” O’Malley tells State Broadcast News. “That’s $500 million that doesn’t go towards energy efficiency programs like Comfort Partners, which provides weatherization for the most vulnerable New Jersey residents. That’s $500 million that doesn’t go to our electrification efforts for our vehicles. It’s $500 million to just go to clean energy jobs development or work for solar and offshore wind as well as work on energy storage. So there’s a multitude of needs in our clean energy economy and investments we need to make to help our most vulnerable residents that we aren’t making.”

New Jersey Policy Perspective has issued a report critical of the budget. The nonpartisan think tank says the Clean Energy Fund can’t be effective if successive governments keep rating it for other needs. New Jersey desperately needs the money for clean energy purposes because the state is still overly reliant on nonrenewable energy sources like fossil fuels, according to Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst with New Jersey Policy Perspective.

“The Clean Energy Fund was intended to be used to incentivize clean energy projects, make New Jersey more affordable, help low and moderate income families afford cost saving and energy saving appliances and so much more,” she says. “These incentives are essential to reaching those goals.”

The two were joined at the press event by Lloyd Kass, vice president, market development and regulatory strategy, Franklin Energy; Kim Gaddy, founder and director of the South Ward Environmental Alliance, Newark; André Thomas, training manager, Isles’ Center for Energy and Environmental Training, Trenton, and Janet Booker, shop steward with Local 32BJ of the Service Employees’ International Union (SEIU).

You can hear an audio report on the press event in the player below.

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