TRENTON, New Jersey — One of Gov. Phil Murphy’s top environmental legislative priorities is not expected to get to his desk before he leaves office, a key lawmaker said.
Murphy — who has been closely allied with environmentalists — has pushed to codify into law his goals to establish a 100 percent clean energy standard by 2035. He outlined that goal in a 2023 executive order as well as in his energy master plan released last month.
But the bill’s top advocate in the Legislature — Senate Environment and Energy Chair Bob Smith — said he’s not optimistic the bill, NJ S237 (24R), will move forward in the lame-duck session.
“There’s been a steady stream of resistance,” he told POLITICO. “There’s some crazy thought in the IBEW that a clean energy standard somehow hurts. I thought I could make a good argument. I thought I could be persuasive, not as good as I thought I could be, because we haven’t convinced them.”
