Gov. Murphy calls on lawmakers to strengthen NJ's clean energy goals in his final year in office

In one of his last major planned addresses before he leaves office next January, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sought to cement the state's climate goals in legislation and protect them from the whims of the next governor.

“We cannot escape the reality that climate change looms larger by the day,” Murphy said in his State of the State speech on Tuesday, pointing to the “drought-driven disaster that has befallen Los Angeles.”

He called on lawmakers to pass the New Jersey Clean Energy Act, which would codify New Jersey's goal for all electricity sold in the state to come from clean energy sources within the next decade.

For now, those goals rely on an executive order Murphy signed in February 2023, which accelerated New Jersey's 100% clean energy target from 2050 to 2035.

Murphy said these were some of the “most ambitious clean-energy goals in the entire country.” But without legislation, those ambitions could be easily undone by a Republican governor.

Doug O’Malley, executive director of the organization Environment New Jersey, pointed out that Murphy’s executive order “only gets you so far,” especially because he is a lame-duck governor.

“It provides a vision, but the vision of the Murphy administration is limited at this point,” O’Malley said.

He added that the Clean Energy Act would establish plans to “ensure that [New Jersey] is providing clean energy for the grid … for the next decade” and beyond.

Clean-energy sources are defined as those that produce minimal or no greenhouse gas emissions, including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and sometimes nuclear power, as opposed to fossil fuels.

Ed Potosnak, executive director for the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said passing the legislation was “more critical than ever” to protect the state’s clean-energy goals.

“Right now, if the next governor were to take on the mantle of Donald Trump, we would limit our clean-energy future with a stroke of a pen, and that's problematic for us,” he said.

Murphy mentioned during his speech that New Jersey had just emerged from its "driest fall season" and drought conditions.

New Jersey Republicans and the incoming Trump administration have been clear about their intentions to undo many of the green initiatives put in place by Democrats. This week, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Jersey Shore Republican, said he has drawn up an executive order at Trump’s request to halt offshore wind farms while the incoming administration reviews the industry.

State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, who delivered the GOP's response to Murphy's State of the State address on Tuesday, criticized the governor's push for clean energy legislation and said it is not what New Jerseyans want.

“How much is it gonna cost to get there? What is it costing us in our electric bills? These are all things that have a direct impact on people's pocketbooks and this is the kind of stuff that I think people are fed up with,” Bucco said.

Ray Cantor, deputy chief government affairs officer for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, called Murphy’s climate priorities an “arbitrary paper goal.”

“If there is anything we should have learned from the tragic events of the last week, is that we need to focus on the basics: spending our tax dollars and ratepayer monies to strengthen New Jersey's infrastructure so that we are prepared for the future and our citizens are protected from both inevitable natural disasters and the needs of our aging electrical grid,” he said.

But in his speech, Murphy said that codifying the clean-energy standard into law was also about “securing our state's energy independence.”

“Taking this step is not merely … about reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. This is also about … creating good paying union jobs in the clean energy industries that will power our future,” he said.

In March 2024, the Clean Energy Act was passed out of the state Senate’s environment and energy committee and referred to the budget and appropriations committee, where it has stalled. If lawmakers heed Murphy’s call, they could choose to take up the current legislation or pursue a new bill when they return to work this month.