Tittel: Warming plan needs work
Xanadu: Environmentally offensive, says Jeff Tittel.
Photo by Sheena 2.0.
Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel has an op-ed piece on the Times of Trenton’s website today about the state’s Greenhouse Gas Plan, unveiled Dec. 15. Versions of the piece have run elsewhere, but we thought we’d highlight it today since the first of six public stakeholder meetings on the plan is tomorrow.
The plan is supposed to outline a way to achieve the goals of the emissions-reducing Global Warming Response Act. (It’s also called the draft G.W.R.A. Recommendation Report.) In his op-ed, Tittel says the energy-efficiency and transportation aspects of the plan need work, among other things.
He charges that the plan doesn’t mention the economics of efficiency, which he calls the cheapest way to reduce emissions: For every $1 spent on energy efficiency in a residential building, you can save $4, he says; in commercial buildings, $1 spent equals $16 in savings. The Sierra Club has estimated that a $3.2 billion investment in New Jersey could create 57,000 new jobs, not bad in a hamstrung economy.
And imagine the emissions savings if we only used half the energy we do now — Tittel says the state’s energy needs could be halved with a comprehensive plan that included stronger green building requirements and more serious standards for appliances.
He says the draft plan doesn’t do enough to promote zero-emissions vehicles and new mass transit opportunities in places that make sense and don’t promote sprawl. He advocates creating a mandatory trip-reduction program, to get more people driving with others or taking buses or trains.
And he throws a big snowball at the megacomplex Xanadu, and at the state for subsidizing it.
The first public meeting on the plan will take place tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m. at the DEP’s public hearing room on the first floor of 401 East State St. in Trenton.
Click here for more meetings or go to the jump for a list, though if you have a day job that’s more than a half-hour from Trenton, you’ll never make it.
- Green Buildings – Meeting on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 from 1 PM to 4 PM in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Public Hearing Room located on the fist floor of 401 East State Street, Trenton.
- Industry, EGUs, Waste and Water – meeting on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 from 9 AM to 12 PM in the Department of Personnel’s multi-purpose room located on the first floor of 44 South Clinton Avenue, Trenton.
- Terrestrial Sequestration and Agriculture – meeting on Friday, January 9, 2009 from 9 AM to 12 PM in Department of Environmental Protection’s Public Hearing Room.
- Transportation (vehicles, fuels, and infrastructure) – meeting on Monday, January 12, 2009 from 9 AM to 12 PM in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Public Hearing Room.
- Land Use/Transportation Planning – meeting on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 from 1 PM to 4 PM in the Department of Transportation’s multi-purpose room located on the first floor of 1035 Parkway Avenue in Trenton.
- Non-CO2 Highly Warming Gases – meeting on Friday, January 16, 2009 from 9 AM to 12 PM in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Public Hearing Room.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:59 am
No where in the constant complaints about
Xanadu does the Sierra Club ever mention that
15,000 real construction jobs were created by
the construction of the Xanadu Complex. Instead of chronic complaining about industry and all commercial developments the Club should concentrate on their mission. Or better
yet, have them define and prioritize their 2009
goals and have us rate them at the end of 2009.
o
January 6th, 2009 at 9:33 am
The Op-Ed curously fails to mention the fact that theis flawed Green House Gas Plan was produced under the “leadership” of Lisa Jackson!
I say “curious”, becuase Jackson has recived huge priase for her alleged “leadership” on global warming!
Oh, and this is factually in error:
“While the plan calls for no new coal plants,”
The Plan does no such thing. It discusses a potential hypothetical future rulemaking by DEP on carbon emissions from energy production. The Plan speculates that this rulemaking could possibly result in a moratorium. That is hardly calling for a moratorium!
I worked on a real legally imposed moratorium on garbage incinerators back in 1990, so I know how to accomplish the task!(glad to provide the Florio Executive Order to interested readers)
I will wager $100 that Jackson will not support a coal moratorium publicly or at her upcoming confirmation hearings.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I agree with Len Butler’s comments about the
benedficial effect Xanadu had on job creation.
Green jobs will be welcome..BUT..they look like
they are years in the future.
January 6th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
If Green Jobs are years off, we are in big trouble. We need to start thinking NOW about how to make the work we do more efficient, how to make the materials we use sturdier, longer-lasting, and environmentally safer.
WHY is it such a bad thing to make things efficient anyway? When did innovation and improvement become a point to argue against? How is making a car that gets 50 mpg not a worthy goal in and of itself? How is making a building that uses 1/3 less energy not a goal worth pursuing?
If you can’t build a building intelligently and efficiently and create jobs at the same time, hire smarter people. Excuses are for lazy people.
We cannot afford to keep up this pointless, two-sided argument, with one side saying all growth is bad and the other side saying green kills jobs. Recognize the fact that unless we push forward with innovation, new technologies, and increased efficiencies and apply them to the bones of this country it is going to fall apart, and the Chinese, the Indians, and the Europeans are going to DOMINATE us in the decades to come.