Credit: (kmarius from Pixabay)

Lawmakers held a four-hour long hearing Monday on two climate bills touted as the top priorities of clean energy advocates, but the legislation appears to face a grueling fight to become law.

The bills, crucial to achieving the Murphy administration’s goal to transition from fossil fuels and avert the worst impacts of climate change, came up in the last legislative session but failed to move out of committee. Monday was the first hearing on the bills this term, which began in January.

 The bills aim to modernize the electric grid, a prospect that will boost energy bills for consumers, and to mandate a speedier adoption of renewable energy, including solar and wind energy. To that end, the legislation would require all electricity generated in New Jersey come from emissions-free sources by 2035 under a new clean energy standard.

Support and call for amendments

In a rare joint meeting of the Senate Environment and Energy and Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committees, there was strong support for both bills from environmentalists, environmental justice advocates and others, but also a lot of calls for amendments to toughen the two bills.

One of the bills, the so-called clean energy standard, actually reflected the version first discussed last August; not the most recent bill that came up in the lame-duck session. Sponsor Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) said the bill is likely to see a lot of changes when it comes up again.

The bills were up for discussion only, but many of those who spoke cited the urgency of acting quickly to reduce the impacts of climate change. At least one labor group vowed to oppose the clean energy standard, while environmental justice advocates pushed to rescind subsidies for the state’s trash incinerators.

“New Jersey’s climate will continue to change in coming decades,’’ said David Robinson, state climatologist, referring to more potent storms and rising sea levels. “The fewer fossil fuels consumed, the less (global) warming.’’

Sticking close to home

Others pressed lawmakers to ensure New Jersey relies on in-state sources of renewables to achieve its clean energy goals, otherwise it could result in lost jobs in New Jersey and ratepayers’ dollars flowing to out-of-state projects.

Larry Barth, director of corporate strategies for New Jersey Resources, the owner of New Jersey Natural Gas, said some out-of-state wind projects are more than 10 years old and thus would result in little or no reduction in emissions. “In-state resources produce real emission reductions,’’ he said, urging a priority be given to in-state solar projects.

Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, the chairman of the Assembly panel, also spoke about relying on in-state resources. “I want to generate what we use,’’ the chairman said earlier in the hearing.

There was less focus on a bill to modernize the aging electric grid. The bill, also sponsored by Smith, would allocate $300 million from the state budget and other state funds to ensure the distribution system will be able to handle all the new renewables projected to come on line. The state money would be matched by up to $200 million from the federal government.

Pricing grid modernization out of reach

Gov. Phil Murphy, however, proposed the state allocate only $40 million to grid modernization, which might make Smith’s proposal too pricey given the state’s fiscal outlook. Still, some urged grid modernization must be the state’s top priority.

“The electric grid modernization plan has to come first,’ said Assemblyman Christian Barranco (R-Morris). He and others argued it would be impossible to integrate the power from all the new projected renewable energy resources into the grid without making massive upgrades to the more than century-old system.

Another issue is how the committees end up defining what is clean energy, a key concern to environmental justice advocates, who want to shutter the state’s garbage incinerators, located in densely populated urban areas.

They and other advocates want the definition to include co-pollutants, a term that refers to other contaminants that harm human health, such as nitrogen oxides, fine particulates or soot and other emissions.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to delete a reference to where utility companies stand on the bill.