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New Jersey already has enough gas capacity to meet current and future demand.
Most of New Jersey’s harmful air emissions from electric generation come from natural gas, a dirty fossil fuel that emits CO2 when burned.
Despite a recent report commissioned by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJPU) showing current gas infrastructure will be able to meet demand through 2030, the fossil fuel industry’s and its front groups’ scare tactics would like you to believe otherwise. They want to continue to profit from the sale of fossil fuels.
New Jersey needs to swiftly transition to clean sources of energy rather than perpetuate its dependence on fossil fuels.
A 2019 study set off alarms by reporting that leaks of methane (the main ingredient in natural gas) are twice as big as previously believed. The greenhouse gas can be up to 84 times more potent than CO2.
This is why we must look at proposed gas infrastructure projects with a critical eye. Many of them, like the Regional Energy Access Expansion project (REAE), are unneeded to meet energy demands now or in the foreseeable future.
Spending billions of dollars to build new gas infrastructure would increase unhealthy emissions, slow investments in wind and solar energy sources, and impede our efforts to fight the enormous threat of climate change. Gov. Murphy has put New Jersey on the path to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and 100 percent clean energy economy wide by 2050, which means phasing out our dependence on gas.
“There’s no market need for new gas pipeline projects to increase capacity in the state, and going forward, demand for gas will only decline as we transition to clean energy.” —Tom Gilbert, co-executive director, NJ Conservation Foundation
New Jersey already has 1,500 miles of pipelines. If you think the state needs more, think again.
REAE Is Not Needed Under Any Scenario