The Star-Ledger - "Panel Acts to Order Greenhouse Gas Cuts"

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A bill committing New Jersey to an aggressive program of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat global warming was approved yesterday by an Assembly committee.

The bill would make New Jersey a national leader, along with California, in reducing greenhouse gases. Environmentalists endorsed the measure, arguing it would send a message to the nation's capital that a federal approach to global warming is urgently needed.

"The science is clear. The planet is warming. We're already starting to see effects on our environment," said Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union), the sponsor. She warned that unchecked global warming could have "catastrophic" consequences, and New Jersey has "a lot to lose because of the issue of rising seas."

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association opposed the bill, saying it would impose new fees on businesses and give sweeping powers to state agencies. Even some lawmakers who voted for it voiced doubts about New Jersey's ability to remedy a global problem.

"Are we just basically entering into an exercise in futility?" asked Assemblyman David Wolfe (R-Ocean).

But when the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee took the vote, only Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) opposed the bill (A3301), saying it set goals with no indication of how they would be met or what it would cost.

"Tell the people, tell the business community how it's going to impact their lives. The bill doesn't do it," Pennacchio said. "I want to know what I'm voting for."

As amended by the committee yesterday, the bill requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below last year's levels by 2050.

Those are the same goals Gov. Jon Corzine set in an executive order he signed in February. The bill would give them the force of state law and make the state Department of Environmental Protection responsible for monitoring progress in achieving them.

"These are the limits that are necessary to avoid the worst effects of climate change," said Suzanne Leta Liou of Environment New Jersey.

Jeff Tittel, director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club, said adopting those goals would send "a loud message to Washington, where the fossil fools may finally get off the dime."

Stender criticized the federal government's inaction on global warming, adding, "This administration has at every turn tried to silence it."

President Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which called for reducing greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels by 2012. But last week, Bush agreed to a German proposal calling for eight leading industrial nations to "seriously consider" halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Sara Bluhm, assistant vice president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the bill empowers the DEP to levy new fees on businesses emitting gases, businesses that already are charged permit fees under the federal Clean Air Act.

"You are going to charge us again for something we already are paying," Bluhm said. She also said the bill would give the DEP and Board of Public Utilities "open-ended authority to regulate electricity generation, which would lead to higher rates."

The bill is expected to go to another committee for an analysis of its budgetary impact, which is standard procedure for legislation entailing significant costs.

It was approved by the Assembly Environment Committee in February and was then sent to the telecommunications committee because of its "potential impact on utilities," according to Joe Donnelly, a spokesman for the Assembly Democrats. He said it is "rare, but not unprecedented," for a bill to go through three committees.

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