Gov. Murphy’s Budget Address Misled Public About Clean Energy Spending
I was just recalling that I read somewhere that Gov. Murphy’s first budget allocated $5 million to “rejoin RGGI”. I even wrote DEP an email asking where all that money was going and why it was necessary:
Hank – I read that Gov. Murphy’s budget included a $5 million appropriation to DEP or BPU “to rejoin RGGI”.
How could dusting off and updating the prior regulatory proposal and adoption documents possibly cost $5 million?
Where is that money going? Consultants? DEP budget?
I figured that it must be a mistake – if not, I’d offer to write the rules to rejoin for $5,000!
So, I looked into it and sure enough, the misleading distortion and spin is coming both from Gov. Murphy (an administration that’s starting to look like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight on environmental and energy issues) and his friend, Jeff Tittel.
Tittel wrote this, which is flat out wrong:
“We also see a continuation of raiding funds from the Clean Energy Fund. The budget takes about $90 million from the Clean Energy Fund for other purposes including $80 million for NJ Transit and $5 million to implement RGGI.
The budget does NOT include “$5 million to implement RGGI.”
Gov. Murphy’s budget address is equally misleading, and, because he has lots of paid professional staff who must know better – worse than Tittel’s flat out error.
Here is Murphy’s budget address text on point (@ page 6):
Environment
Governor Murphy is committed to advancing the clean energy economy and protecting New Jersey’s environment. This budget begins restoring clean energy spending by reallocating an existing $5 million from the Clean Energy Fund to the Energy Savings Improvement Program (ESIP) to drive important energy efficiency projects in State government. ESIP is managed by the Treasury’s Division of Property Management – Energy Initiatives Unit and supports projects that reduce energy use in State- owned buildings. The budget also includes funding to enable the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to implement New Jersey’s re-entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a key climate change priority for Governor Murphy. DEP further receives funds to hire staff to enforce diesel control compliance as part of the Governor’s commitment to environmental justice. The budget enables funds from the multi-state Volkswagen settlement to support clean transportation priorities.
The Governor fails to note that his budget, according to NJ Spotlight, proposes to divert $136 million in Clean Energy Funds, an amount that dwarfs the $5 million he proposed for the Energy Savings Improvement Program, which only applies to State government (and therefore offsets other necessary State appropriations, a zero sum game).
Tittel just took the Gov.’s misleading spin and distorted it into falsehood.
No big deal, because no media outlets picked up on it anyway.
But the lies and spin are already huge – by the Murphy administration and by his friends – and that’s a very bad sign.