Well, its starting to look like the same number of licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll lollipop: three!

Late breaking developments from last night at the local government level in Wayne, NJ, raise the importance of further legislative action to facilitate renewable energy in New Jersey.

While A3062/S1303 accomplishes a crucial first step, this legislation will not itself quash the rampant abuse of local governments throughout our great State.

Wayne Twp introduced a new wind ordinance in January in response to my lawsuit challenging a previously adopted ordinance that bans wind turbines in that municipality. The new ordinance would allow wind turbines in every zone in town subject to a variety of restrictions.

However, at last night’s Council meeting, rather than having a hearing on the ordinance, the mayor declared that they are going to hold the ordinance until their July 1st council meeting “because they have been advised that it would be in their best interests to engage an expert to advise them on wind energy.” (Mind you, they managed to adopt the existing ban on wind turbines without an expert, but that’s another story.)

He referenced an RFP that they have published seeking an expert on wind energy and said that they expected to receive bids the first week of May.

And there’s the rub. At first blush, the hiring of an expert sounds like a great idea. But on further inspection, note that the RFP does not seek the truth, but rather explicitly seeks an expert whose opinion “will support the Town’s position” on wind energy and will be able to rebut the positions of the American Wind Energy Association, the NJ Clean Energy Program, etc.

The direct quote from the RFP:

“Provide documentation that optimally represents the Township’s position regarding Wind Energy/Wind Power or other alternate energy litigation concerns.”

Here’s the takeaway: Even with A3062 enacted, municipalities such as Wayne will continue to manipulate the legislative process on the local level to achieve the same results — prohibitions on wind energy that, as a practical matter, are tantamount to outright bans.

Now, however, they will have to do so more carefully and with the expenditure of more taxpayer money and the consumption of more time and resources. This latest move by Wayne Twp. illustrates why further legislative action is necessary to remove these barriers that stand in the way of important public policy supporting renewable energy. Public policy that the NJ legislature and the Governor have all formally embraced as State lawmakers.

This situation requires that some version of S2528 move through the legislative process so that it becomes a matter of law that Towns cannot impose restrictions that are more stringent than those set forth in a statute. That Bill is modeled after a New Hampshire law adopted last summer, and prohibits municipalities from unreasonably restricting wind energy. It further defines standards for noise and setback that are per se unreasonable and requires the DCA to develop a Statewide building code standard for wind turbines.

Without this additional legislation, not only will the policy of encouraging renewable energy in NJ be frustrated, New Jersey will quickly lose its position as a leader in renewable energy and our “tradition of home rule” will engender a reputation that will embarass all of us.

Eventually, New Jersey ratepayers will question whether the societal benefits charges that we all pay should be abolished, since those funds are clearly not equally available to all NJ residents, certainly with respect to renewable energy project financing.

I am hopeful that our legislators choose to move S2528 and its Assembly counterpart as quickly as possible.

For A3062/S1303 to be adopted and yield nothing more than a pyrrhic victory would be more than disappointing.

9 Comments »