New Jersey BPU prepares to meet down a member

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Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We’ll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed last week.

Driving the Day

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR — The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is down to four members after Bob Gordon stepped down late last month. Gov. Phil Murphy had moved to replace Gordon, a former state senator who is also a New Jersey Transit board member, as well as Commissioner Dianne Solomon. But so far, Republicans in the Senate have been able to deny Democrats the votes they need to clear the two nominees, meaning the BPU may meet this week at a scheduled board meeting on Wednesday with only four of its usual five seats filled.

The BPU abruptly canceled a meeting last month without giving any reason. That meeting would have been the first since Solomon raised questions about the Murphy administration’s energy policy on several fronts, including attempts to make ratepayers pay more for power from what would be the state’s first offshore wind farm. Later that same day, Murphy — who has pinned much of his environmental legacy on offshore wind — named the nominees to replace Solomon and Gordon.

The nominees are long-time Murphy administration official Christine Guhl Sadovy, who would replace Gordon, and Marian Abdou, an attorney for the energy company NRG who would replace Solomon. — Ry Rivard

MORE PASSAIC RIVER SUPERFUND DRAMA — A long-running fight over who pays for cleanup of Passaic River has spawned yet another court battle. Occidental Chemical Corp., known as OxyChem, continues to protest a $150 million deal proposed late last year to settle the federal government’s claims against 85 companies accused of contaminating an eight-mile stretch of river near its mouth. The company also recently filed a complaint against 38 entities seeking to recover costs for the clean-up of a nine-mile upper stretch of the river the EPA last month ordered it to perform.

About 100 different companies or their successors are blamed for some damage to the river, which since the 1980s has been on the federal list of toxic Superfund sites. According to EPA, the “majority of the contaminated sediment is in the lower 8.3 miles, but the contamination in the upper nine miles continues to impact the river’s ecosystem and surrounding communities.” A federal report, known as an allocation report, found the bulk of the cleanup costs for the lower stretch of river should be borne by OxyChem, but it argues other companies have polluted the river more than is known. OxyChem has been protesting the proposed settlement during a comment period that closed late last month and filed an 176-page comment letter blasting the settlement proposal. The EPA will likely take some time to respond to the various comments about the settlement, which would need approval from a federal judge. The company said in a statement that it had filed the lawsuit over the other stretch river to “determine the true fair share” companies should pay for cleanup, which amounts to a criticism of the EPA’s approach.

The companies attempting to settle with the EPA criticized OxyChem’s actions. “Over the past 40 years, Occidental has spent tens of millions of dollars on lawyers, lobbyists, and consultants in an effort to delay cleanup efforts in the Passaic River, downplay the risks to the public from its dioxin, and blame others for the contamination it caused,” David Klucsik, a spokesperson for the group of companies, said in a statement. — Ry Rivard

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Here’s what we’re watching:

MONDAY
— Over two dozen New York lawmakers and environmental advocates are holding a press conference at the Capitol to demand Gov. Kathy Hochul back “real cost-saving measures” to tackle climate change, noon on the fourth floor above the Senate Lobby.

WEDNESDAY
— The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is expected to meet, 10 a.m.

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AROUND NEW YORK

— WSJ editorial board: “The Climate Left Rolls Over Kathy Hochul.”

Around New Jersey

— Wind project may ‘adversely affect,’ but not likely to ‘jeopardize,’ endangered marine life, BOEM says.

What you may have missed

HOCHUL PUSH WOULD WEAKEN NEW YORK’S CLIMATE LAW — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: New York’s top energy officials say the state can keep its leadership position on climate while weakening the state’s landmark law mandating reductions in planet-warming emissions.

But the numbers — and previous work by state staff — show that New York would be required to take less aggressive action to slash greenhouse gasses if Gov. Kathy Hochul, despite dropping an immediate push for it Wednesday, ultimately cuts a deal with lawmakers to change the climate law, an effort first reported by POLITICO. “Overall, you’re saying we don’t need to reduce emissions as much,” said Bob Howarth, a Cornell University professor and member of the Climate Action Council that was set up to chart a path to achieving the state’s climate goals. “This is a big retrenchment from the climate goal, particularly on the use of natural gas.”

Hochul has backed down from the controversial proposal to rewrite New York’s climate law in the budget talks after backlash from environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers. The priority, for now, is a rebate as part of “cap and invest.” But Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said Wednesday the issue of how New York counts emissions still needs to be considered.

The Hochul administration said the numerical reductions of greenhouse gas emissions required between the two accounting methods by 2030 could not be compared. But the percentage progress toward the goal under the two scenarios indicates New York would be able to keep burning more fossil fuels for longer. Under the state’s current accounting, for example, New York has achieved about 37 percent of the progress needed to meet the 2030 goal, according to an analysis of state data by POLITICO.

SIERRA CLUB CRITICIZES TOMS RIVER SETTLEMENT — The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club has “serious concerns” about a controversial settlement state officials want to reach with the owners of the state’s most notorious Superfund site. The Sierra Club initially seemed supportive of the deal and was positively quoted in a press release announcing the settlement late last year. But in a letter this week, at the close of a public comment period on the deal, the environmental group now argues the settlement “does not go far enough when it comes to holding BASF accountable for creating one of the most polluted Superfund Sites in the state and for causing severe health impacts to residents of Toms River.” — Ry Rivard

CLIMATE ACCOUNTING WALKBACK — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top climate officials, a day after defending a proposal to rewrite the climate law because of cost concerns, said Wednesday that the major change is no longer a priority in budget negotiations after backlash from environmental advocates and lawmakers. In an interview with POLITICO, state Department of Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos and NYSERDA president and CEO Doreen Harris indicated that Hochul would not be pushing a controversial plan to change how New York accounts for its emissions.

ON OR OFF THE TABLE? Seggos and Harris on Wednesday met with the governor in the state Capitol, called POLITICO and then headed up to speak with reporters at their offices on the third floor (where the governor later made an appearance bearing Thin Mints). The co-chairs of the Climate Action Council had spoken just a day earlier about the importance of changing the state’s emissions accounting.

Seggos declined to say the idea was “off the table” — Albany parlance for something that’s definitely not going to happen in the budget, but it’s also never a done deal until the last bill is printed. “It’s on the table, but we have to be honest about costs. We need to develop a program that will work for New York. We want to remain at the vanguard of climate action nationally, right? But it must be affordable,” he told reporters Wednesday. “So that conversation has to begin now. If we can make advancements in the next few weeks? Fantastic. If it takes longer than that? All the better as long as we get a program that is ultimately affordable and successful. — Marie J. French

PJM BACKLASH — POLITICO’s Catherine Morehouse: Gas-fired power plants are lashing out at the PJM Interconnection over the $1.8 billion in fines being levied against them for failing to provide power during a holiday cold snap. More than a dozen power plants and their operators are blaming the regional transmission operator for the grid’s tight conditions during the storm that left much of the U.S. power system on the brink of outages — and argue they should not be held responsible for the close call.

WHAT THE WIND BLEW IN: Equinor and BP, who are developing wind projects off the New York coast, on Wednesday made public two years worth of data from offshore buoys in their project areas as part of a partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The companies have committed to continuing to release further real-time data for scientific research purposes and transparency into their development on the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects, NYSERDA Director of Offshore Wind Greg Lampman said in a statement. — James Bikales

LANDFILL FIGHT: Major environmental groups are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to shut down the Seneca Landfill, the state’s largest dumping ground at nearly 400 acres. Most of that trash, which stands at 280 feet, comes from New York City — which has largely failed to make a dent in its recycling and reduction goals. The landfill is scheduled to close at the end of 2025, but its owner, Texas-based Waste Connections, is requesting a 15-year permit extension from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The letter is signed by several groups, including Environmental Advocates of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York Public Interest Research Group, the Atlantic-chapter of the Sierra Club and Seneca Lake Guardian. — Danielle Muoio Dunn

WATERFRONT TALKS — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: The governors of New York and New Jersey are dealing with “considerable uncertainty” at the country’s busiest port by preparing for the possible demise of a bistate police agency created to crack down on corruption. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Gov. Phil Murphy said in a joint letter that their staffs have been meeting to figure out how to maintain ongoing investigations, enforcement actions and operations if the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor goes away.