To fix or “clean up” the NJ RPS program, we have developed a bill that strips renewable energy subsidies from incineration and other problematic energy technologies.
What the bill does:
- Removes trash incineration from Class II
- Removes from Class I:
- Landfills (for burning their toxic landfill gases)
- Anaerobic digester gas
- Energy generated from fuel cells powered by carbon-based fuels
- Biomass (burning of trees, wood waste, crops…)
- Restores ability of Class I technologies (wind and solar) to meet Class II requirements
- Requires non-compliance monies to be spent only on technologies that don’t create air pollution or produce fuels to burn elsewhere, creating air pollution
- Adds a reporting requirement including the number of RECs retired per facility per year
Trash Incineration is an inefficient, expensive, and environmentally damaging way to generate energy and dispose of trash. 3 of the 4 incinerators located in NJ are in communities of color that suffer from health effects such as asthma, lead poisoning, premature births, and increased cardiovascular disease when compared to their white counterparts. This is an example of environmental racism. In 2020-2021, 99% of the Class II credits were from trash incineration.
Landfill gas is rarely used in the NJ RPS program, and if incinerators are removed, it’s only fair that landfills not be subsidized as well. When operating landfills are managed for energy production, they are operated in ways that maximize gas generation. This leads to greater leakage of landfill gases that are both toxic to communities and harmful to the climate. In 2020-2021, only 7% of the Class I credits were from landfill gas-burning operations.
Anaerobic Digester Gas is the burning of methane-rich gases from in-vessel composting or organic material. In 2020-2021, only 0.2% of the Class I credits came from these sources. These credits usually come from the digestion of sewage sludge at a sewage treatment plant, animal waste from factory farms, or large-scale food waste digesters. While it’s best to digest sewage sludge before landfilling it, that digested toxic sludge is often dumped on farm fields as a soil amendment, and this practice should not be subsidized. Animal waste and food waste are better to aerobically compost so that they can go back to the land without risking methane leakage. An anaerobic composting process is required after digestion, anyway, before digested organics can be returned to the soil. The state’s renewable energy mandate should not provide economic incentives to the less desirable waste management method for organic materials.
Fuel cells have never been used in the NJ RPS because they’re prohibitively expensive. While green hydrogen could be a useful storage strategy, RPS should not create a market for carbon-based fuel cell feedstocks.
Biomass incineration is not a clean energy source. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning wood, crops, or wood waste are 50% worse than coal per unit of energy. Other air pollutants released from biomass incineration can be comparable to coal. Due to a lack of biomass incinerators in the region, and the fact that they’re one of the most expensive sources of energy production, biomass has never been used in NJ RPS to date.