For Immediate Release: June 16, 2020
Contact: Berenice Tompkins, NJ Work Environment Council, (914) 564-3094
“Big Win for Offshore Wind,” Says Jersey Renews as Murphy Administration Announces Development of New Jersey Wind Port
Trenton – Today, Governor Murphy announced the development of the New Jersey Wind Port, the first port in the country to be built specifically for offshore wind marshaling and manufacturing. The port will be sited in the Lower Alloway Creek area in Salem County on Artificial Island next to the Hope Creek Nuclear Generation site. The project is a significant step to bring an offshore wind supply chain to New Jersey and put our state on a path to a clean energy future.
Jersey Renews, a multi-sector coalition of more than 60 labor, environmental, faith and social justice organizations, has advocated for an offshore wind port as an opportunity for New Jersey to reduce statewide emissions and transition to renewable energy sources while creating high-paying, union manufacturing jobs. The NJ Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) estimates that the New Jersey Wind Port will create more than 1,500 long term jobs in manufacturing, operation and maintenance, as well as several hundred short-term construction jobs. Employment of women and people of color will be prioritized, as well as local hiring in an area of the state with high rates of poverty and unemployment. Per NJEDA, the port will also create competition for existing wind production that will serve to lower the price of wind power.
The project will be completed in two phases: Phase 1 construction for marshaling will begin in 2021, with marshaling to become operational in 2024. Phase 2 manufacturing will come online in 2024 and be completed by 2026.
Jersey Renews partners greeted news of the port with enthusiasm: “This is a bold initiative that will make New Jersey a regional leader in the offshore wind manufacturing supply chain,” said Debra Coyle McFadden, executive director of the Work Environment Council of New Jersey. “By designing a port specifically for offshore wind, NJEDA can tailor the project to meet industry needs and accelerate the creation of jobs. I’m glad to see New Jersey capitalizing on our location in the region and in turn on the number of jobs this new industry can bring. We are pleased to learn of the Governor’s commitment to inclusion and union jobs.”
“The Murphy Administration is taking a huge step forward to meet the aggressive goals of Gov. Murphy’s executive order to generate 7,500 MW of offshore wind by 2035,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “A South Jersey unobstructed off-shore wind port is the key step in building an off-shore wind supply chain to generate half of New Jersey’s energy from clean, renewable energy by 2030. Off-shore wind is a huge untapped resource off the Jersey Shore that can power our economy with renewable energy, move us off fossil fuels and fight climate change pollution. The answer for New Jersey’s clean energy future has been blowing in the wind and this announcement cements the Murphy Administration’s commitment to making New Jersey the leader in off-shore wind.”
“Building offshore wind from manufacturing to installation in New Jersey will be a boon for the economy, climate and public health,” stated Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director of Clean Water Action. “Coupled with reducing fossil fuel use, it will reduce pollution that is burning up the planet, making COVID-19 more deadly, and causing a wide range of other respiratory and cardiac diseases. The South Jersey wind port will create thousands of much needed good paying union jobs, as well as move us closer towards achieving not only the 45% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 scientists are calling for but also the Governor’s goal of a 100% clean energy by 2050.”
“This is a big win for offshore wind,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The announcement of this port in South Jersey is the biggest step forward in making offshore wind a reality for the state. This port will help create thousands of jobs and shows that there are alternatives in economic growth without fossil fuels. This project will not only create job jobs in building and assembly but also in manufacturing. Offshore wind is the most cost effective and reliable way to bring renewable energy. New Jersey is one of the best places to develop offshore wind in the county and we are moving to be a national leader in wind.”
“The New Jersey Offshore Wind Port is the perfect investment to help stimulate New Jersey’s economic recovery – by creating roughly 1,500 long-term jobs in the Lower Alloway Creek area – while putting a down-payment on a renewably powered future for our state and mitigating climate change, which particularly threatens coastal, low-lying areas in South Jersey such as Salem County,” said Berenice Tompkins, Jersey Renews Campaign Organizer with NJ Work Environment Council. “Prioritizing job creation for women and people of color, as well as for residents of the area, is a smart means to ensure that New Jerseyans most impacted by the pandemic and economic recession reap the benefits of new clean energy projects.”
“This is the best thing I’ve heard to come out of New Jersey since the Boss,” said Liz Burdock, CEO and President of the Business Network for Offshore Wind. “By providing a location that can accommodate the industry’s manufacturing and marshaling needs, the New Jersey Wind Port would make New Jersey an international leader in offshore wind and a hub of the East Coast wind industry. This is a concrete step toward an offshore wind supply chain born in the USA.”
###
About Jersey Renews
Jersey Renews is a broad coalition of labor, environment, and faith organizations working to make New Jersey a leader in climate policy by increasing clean energy infrastructure, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and ensuring good, family-sustaining jobs in the transition to a clean energy economy. www.jerseyrenews.org
