PR: AFP: No Way to Spin It, Offshore Windmill Scheme a Loser for New Jersey

February 15, 2012 JLabor, Education & Pensions

For Immediate Release – February 15, 2011

BOGOTA, NJ – Americans for Prosperity is reiterating its call for the state to kibosh a $100 million, taxpayer-subsidized offshore wind project, citing a recent report by state consultants that the plan would have devastating long-term consequences for the state.

“If this doesn’t disgust taxpayers, I don’t know what will,” said Steve Lonegan. “This report is damning and the economic consequences even worse for the state than we thought.

“The administration and proponents of this scheme have put the cart before the horse. It’s time they put the horse back in the barn before it’s too late,” added Lonegan.

According to the state consultants, the current proposal would cost New Jersey $946.1 million in economic activity over 20 years, result in the loss of almost 30,000 jobs and drive up electricity rates by $286 million.

Last year, Americans for Prosperity commissioned the Beacon Hill Institute to conduct an analysis of the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act, or OWED, which authorized the project. Beacon Hill’s analysis concluded that the wind project would cost the state as much as $4.1 billion, drive up electricity rates up as much as 4.2% and cost up to 4,440 jobs.

“New Jersey taxpayers are already saddled with the worst tax burden, as well as some of the highest utility bills, in the entire country” said Lonegan. “The last thing they can afford is another $100 million of their tax dollars going to an unproven, untested boondoggle that will drive the state’s economy further into the ditch.

“Taxpayers are fed up with this kind of crony capitalism and failed, Solyndra-like schemes,” continued Lonegan. “There may be a day in the future when wind power proves to be cost-efficient and marketable for consumers. That day is not here. Until it comes, New Jersey, including its coastline, should remain, to borrow phrase, a ‘no-spin zone’ and this scheme should be stopped.”

In addition to exposing the folly of the OWED project, Americans for Prosperity has continued to urge the governor to back out of the scheme via an online petition drive which now has the signatures of nearly 800 New Jersey citizen activists.

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