The Honorable Phil Murphy
Governor of New Jersey
Office of the Governor
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ  08625

December 5, 2018

We the undersigned groups are forming a campaign to move New Jersey towards a goal of 100% renewable energy and advocating for a complete moratorium on all new fossil fuel infrastructure including pipelines, power plants, compressor stations, LNG ports, and more.  
 
Climate change is an immediate and real threat to the state. The combination of sea level rise, increased storm events, and other climate impacts put our environment and communities at risk. According to a
2018 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we may have as little as 12 years to reach critical levels in stopping greenhouse gas emissions before the Earth reaches a dangerous temperature. A Rutgers study notes that sea level may rise almost 3 feet by 2100. This is a dire situation and New Jersey must immediately begin working to mitigate climate change.
 
We’re forming this coalition to move towards the goals of rapidly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector, and substantially achieving 100% clean renewable energy in New Jersey by 2035 or sooner, which would more than satisfy the Governor’s 2050 target. Fossil fuel infrastructure is a major impediment to reaching those goals.
 
• We also want Governor Murphy to impose a moratorium on all new fossil fuel power plants and to ban fracking, water withdrawals for fracking and frack wastewater in the Delaware River Basin and in the state. There are currently five new power plants and seven major pipelines proposed in New Jersey and potentially more to come and the current Delaware River Watershed fracking moratorium is under attack by industry.

New pipeline and compressor projects:
• PennEast Pipeline: 110-mile pipeline that will bring natural gas from the Marcellus Region of Pennsylvania through Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey. The pipeline will be cutting through communities, preserved open space, and farmland.
• Northeast Supply Enhancement: The project would put 3.5 new miles of pipe in Old Bridge and Sayreville and 22 miles under the Raritan Bay. This would attach to a compressor station in Trap Rock Quarry in Franklin Twp.
• South Jersey Gas pipeline: 22 inch gas pipeline through 22 miles of the Pinelands and Southern New Jersey.
• Southern Reliability Link : New Jersey Natural Gas’s SRL is a partner with PennEast. It is a 28-mile gas pipeline that will destroy environmentally sensitive land in the Pinelands and threaten communities along the route in Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties.
• Garden State Expansion project: Their proposed Garden State Expansion compressor station would connect into a New Jersey Natural Gas Pipeline in Chesterfield.
• Rivervale South to Market: The Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco) is seeking authorization for its Rivervale South to Market project. The project is supposed to provide 190,000 dekatherms per day of capacity to northeastern markets. The project will consist of uprating 10.35 miles of existing Transco pipeline as well as upgrades and modifications to existing pipeline facilities, all in New Jersey. In addition, there is a proposed 0.61 mile loop in wetlands environment of Bergen County.
• Lambertville East Expansion (Lambertville): Will connect PennEast to Texas Eastern and the Transco compressor station so they can take PennEast gas through their system

New gas-fired power plant projects:
• Meadowlands Power Plant (North Bergen)- 1200MW
• Phoenix Energy Center (Holland Twp)-  660MW
• BL England (Upper Twp)- 450 MW
• Keasbey Energy Center (Woodbridge)- 725 MW
• Sewaren 7 (Woodbridge)- 540MW

 
• We believe that the NJDEP should immediately move to set standards for greenhouse gasses, CO2 as well as methane, which they’ve had the authority to do since 2005. This includes regulating the Air Pollution Control Act and Title V permits to stop new plants and reduce existing pollution to protect the health of New Jersey’s communities.  
 
• Governor Murphy must enact the strictest possible interpretation of the “Anti-degradation standard” under the Water Quality Certification Program pursuant to Section 410 of the Federal Clean Water Act by NJDEP for pipelines. NJDEP must also conduct a cost-benefit analysis of moving New Jersey away from the PJM electricity grid, which relies too heavily on dirty fuels.  
 
Please join with us to demand an end to fossil fuels in New Jersey and to move us rapidly towards a 100% renewable future and green economy.
 
Sincerely,
 
WATERSPIRIT
Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains
People Over Pipelines
Central Jersey Environmental Defenders
UU Faith Action NJ
NJ Sierra Club
Clean Water Action
Environment NJ
Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Cooper River Indivisible
The Wei
Coalition for Peace Action
Already Devlaued and Devastated Homeowners of Parsippany
Sierra Club, Loantaka Group, NJ Chapter
New Jersey Tenants Organization
Franciscan Response to Fracking
Gloucester County Food and Water Watch
Pinelands Preservation Alliance
Hackensack Riverkeeper
GMO Free NJ
Citizens United for Renewable Energy (CURE)
Don't Gas the Pinelands
Roseland Against Compressor Station (RACS)
Northjersey Pipeline Walkers
Bergen GreenFaith Circle
Sourland Conservancy
Clean Ocean Action
Sustainable South Jersey
New Jersey PACE / Center for Regenerative Community Solutions, a NJ Nonprofit Corporation
Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline NJ
Don't Gas the Meadowlands Coalition
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
Franklin Woman’s Club
Indivisible Lambertville/New Hope
Food & Water Watch
GreenFaith
Women's March on New Jersey
The Climate Mobilization Hoboken Chapter
Central New Jersey Chapter-The Climate Reality Project
Environmental Action Club Morris County Vocational High School
350NJ-Rockland
Northern NJ Chapter, National Organization for Women
ClimateMama
Raritan Headwaters
Ramapough Lenape Nation
Blue Wave NJ
Ridgewood Jolt
Westfield 2020
North Jersey Sierra Club
NJ Citizen Action
Surfrider Foundation: Jersey Shore Chapter
NJ 7 Forward