Hammonton, NJ – Yesterday, at a Sierra Club press conference, Representative Pallone (NJ-06) and Representative Norcross (NJ-01) joined labor leaders and environmental advocates to speak out against the Trump administration’s offshore wind buyouts.
Gathered at the Ironworkers Local 399 in Hammonton, where New Jersey union workers have spent years training for careers in the American offshore wind industry, speakers highlighted the consequences of the Trump administration’s decision to pay developers nearly $4 billion to cancel offshore wind leases across the country. Four of the buyouts — RWE, Invenergy, Bluepoint, and TotalEnergies/Attentive — affect leases in the New York/New Jersey Bight and canceled projects that would have created well-paying union jobs and generated significant clean, reliable, and affordable power for the state as ratepayers grapple with rising costs driven by unprecedented electricity demand.
YOU CAN WATCH A RECORDING OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE
“New Jerseyans are getting crushed by electric bills and paying through the nose at the pump because of Trump’s illegal war with Iran,” said Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr (NJ-06). “Meanwhile, he is taking our tax dollars and paying big companies to walk away from projects that would have produced cleaner, more affordable energy and created good union jobs. We’re literally paying billions to get less energy and fewer jobs. It’s completely backwards. Yet again under President Trump, working people are getting shafted.”
"The Trump Administration's hostility to offshore wind is an assault on family budgets and a healthy planet — at a moment when we can't afford to ignore either. Jersey shouldn't have to fight for this critical energy, but we're not afraid of the battle and I'm proud as hell to fight alongside these allies here today,” said Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01).
“The Trump Administration’s attacks on offshore wind are a direct attack on clean energy jobs and energy affordability in New Jersey,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Chapter Director of the Sierra Club. “Our state was poised to be a leader in the offshore wind industry, with multiple projects on the horizon set to generate reliable, clean energy for thousands of homes, bringing down our electric bills and creating hundreds of good-paying jobs and a whole manufacturing industry down in South Jersey. Now, New Jersey taxpayers are paying the price of Trump’s dirty deals to buyout project leases and electricity costs continue to climb. The Sierra Club commends our federal leaders like Congressmen Pallone and Norcross for not giving up on the fight, and we stand united with our brothers and sisters in organized labor to bring offshore wind back to New Jersey.”
“Offshore wind would provide thousands of New Jersey workers with the chance to lower energy bills for themselves and their neighbors. Yet, President Trump pulled the rug out from under them and us all,” said Aden Savett, Executive Director of Climate Jobs New Jersey. “Thankfully, we have a solution to make life affordable right here at home. New Jersey’s skilled union workforce can and will play a decisive role in helping to meet our state’s rapidly increasing clean energy needs.”
“It’s mind-numbing, politics at their worst decisions, that are driving the Trump’s administration’s policy on wind energy. We are in the middle of an energy crisis, and we desperately need more in-state generation to bring down skyrocketing electricity bills. Yet our President is paying energy developers over $2 billion in taxpayer funds to stop producing energy,” said Charles Wowkanech, President of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. “It’s just an unbelievably foolish decision that will sacrifice thousands of good paying jobs while flushing precious tax dollars down the drain. Worst of all, it does nothing to address the affordability crisis working families are currently struggling in – in fact, it does the opposite.”
“Offshore wind development has the potential to create thousands of good, new union jobs, deliver gigawatts of affordable energy to the grid, and drive economic revitalization for vulnerable communities. But regardless of those significant benefits of offshore wind, the Trump administration has consistently attempted to dismantle it,” said Katie Harris, Vice President of Federal Affairs for BlueGreen Alliance. “Instead of leaning into the promising industry, Trump has weaponized basically the entire federal government at this point in an all-out assault to fulfill this personal vendetta he has against offshore wind — and it’s taxpayers and working families who are really paying the price.”
"We need to fight for responsibly developed offshore wind that will lower skyrocketing electricity prices and create family-sustaining union jobs right here in New Jersey," said New Jersey LCV Interim Executive Director, Allison McLeod. "Donald Trump's attempt to kneecap our offshore wind industry and buy out project leases is a blatant attempt to further enrich his billionaire campaign contributors at the expense of New Jersey's working families."
"The Trump Administration's consistent attack on offshore wind is not just counterproductive in a time when there is an ever growing demand for electricity, but is also bad for our economy and our communities who would benefit from these projects," said Drew Tompkins, Director of Jersey Renews. "These attacks are costing us thousands of family sustaining, union jobs, taking power off the grid, and causing investment in our communities to dry up or remain unrealized at a time when all those things are desperately needed."
“This administration's baseless attacks on offshore wind threaten people and wildlife in New Jersey,” said Amber Hewett, Senior Director of Offshore Wind Energy at the National Wildlife Federation. “They are not only abandoning clean energy that is more affordable, cleaner, and safer than oil and gas, but also rerouting developers toward new investment in these dangerous and dirty fossil fuels. This is a reckless use of taxpayer dollars that sets New Jersey further behind in the race to create jobs, lower costs, and curb the devastating effects of climate change on Garden State communities and wildlife.”
“The offshore wind industry can coexist, and even support, the fishing community in New Jersey,” said Captain Paul Eidman of Anglers for Offshore Wind Power. “Anglers from New England to the Mid-Atlantic are already seeing how turbine foundations create productive new habitat and stronger fisheries. With our gamefish stressed by rapid climate‑driven changes, we should welcome solutions that support both healthy oceans and good fishing. We can’t ignore the stakes: Hundreds of union jobs are now in jeopardy because of these sketchy deals.”
"At a time when oil is more than $100 a barrel, killing affordable and clean American energy projects is unconscionable,” said Catherine Zingg, Northeast Regional Director of Evergreen Action. "NJ Wind Projects would have provided thousands of union electricians, carpenters, and steelworkers with family-sustaining jobs and lower electricity costs for every New Jerseyan. Instead, we are seeing rising prices for families and decreasing electric supply caused by short-sighted Whitehouse policies."
“Offshore wind is a proven and highly successful and safe way to harness the wind for electrical generation that requires substantial infrastructure modernization and investment that would prepare New Jersey for current and future energy needs and help support the business community and improve the quality of life,” said Deana Gunn from Laborers' International Union of North America. “Instead of a virtuous cycle of clean, reliable and affordable energy, modernized infrastructure, and good-paying jobs, we get a death spiral of cancelled plans, increased costs, and frustrated families. We can do better. We have to do better. This isn’t about politics, it’s about people—and they deserve leaders and policies that move them forward rather than set them back.”
“For years, New Jersey was promised that offshore wind would bring two essential things: locally generated electricity to meet the growing demand and thousands of good-paying construction jobs. Our members were trained for these specialized roles and local businesses prepared to supply these projects. Instead, the federal moratorium and taxpayer funded lease buyouts have stalled these projects completely,” said Steve DiMatteo, President of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 351. “We need public policy that prioritizes building infrastructure, protecting utility ratepayers, and supporting a local workforce who stands ready to do these jobs. Halting these projects and buying out contracts hurts our economy and leaves our energy future uncertain. It’s time to get back to building a reliable power grid our communities deserve, and the friends in the IBEW and building trades stand ready to do so.”
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