The Environmental Case for Wind Power in New Jersey

The Environmental Case for Wind Power in New Jersey Elizabeth Ridlington Emily Rusch March 2005 Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge Eric Stiles and Ted Korth of New Jersey Audubon Soci ety, and Gerald Winegrad of American Bird Conservancy for providing peer review. Susan Rakov, Jasmine Vasavada, and Tony Dutzik provided invaluable editorial support. NJPIRG Law & Policy Center thanks the Educational Foundation of America for its gen erous support of this report. The authors alone bear responsibility for any factual errors. The recommendations are those of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Law & Policy Center. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders. © 2005 NJPIRG Law & Policy Center The NJPIRG Law & Policy Center is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization working on environmental protection, consumer rights, and good government in New Jersey. For additional copies of this report, send $10 (including shipping) to: 11 N. Willow Street Tr enton, NJ 08608 For more information about the NJPIRG Law & Policy Center and NJPIRG, please con tact our office at 609-394-8155 or visit our website at www.njpirg.org. Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 Introduction 7 New Jersey’s Electricity Demand and Production 9 Environmental and Public Health Impacts of Energy Generation 13 Global Warming 13 Health-Threatening Air Pollution 17 Water Pollution 19 Hazardous Waste 22 Habitat Destruction and Wildlife Endangerment 24 Aesthetic Impacts 29 Guidelines for Wind Power in New Jersey 31 Elements of a Good Permitting Process in New Jersey 31 The Next Steps for New Jersey 37 Appendix A. Agencies Involved in Wind Projects 39 Appendix B. Opportunities to Control the Impacts of Wind Power 41 Notes 44 Executive Summary n the coming years, New Jersey will need gases are not dramatically curtailed, life in to make some difficult choices about its New Jersey will be significantly altered Ielectricity sources. within the next century. The state’s electricity demand is expected to grow by at least 14 percent over the next • Within the next 50 years, the ocean decade. Efficiency measures can mitigate will rise one to four feet along the this demand growth, but additional power Atlantic coast. A 2.3-foot rise in ocean generation facilities will also be necessary— levels would threaten up to 433 square both to satisfy this increased demand and miles of coastal land in New Jersey to replace power from dirty or unsafe plants with increased flooding. The impacts as they are retired. of global warming are likely to be most Generating power by using fossil fuels noticeable along the shore, through or nuclear power imposes unbearable costs lost shoreline, saltwater intrusion in on our environment, our health, and our fresh water supplies, an increase in economy. Instead of increasing our depen extreme weather events like storms and dence on dangerous, polluting sources such flooding, and resulting damage to as coal, natural gas and nuclear power coastal properties. plants, the state must tap into clean, sus tainable energy resources such as wind • Global warming will cause significant power. disruption of ecosystems and thus wildlife habitats. Changing vegetation will alter wildlife population size, density, and behavior. Shifts in habitat may force as many as 31 species of Global Warming birds to change their ranges to exclude New Jersey. Global warming, caused by the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil • Warming is already occurring: tem fuels, is the most severe impact of our current peratures in the past century have energy path. If emissions of greenhouse risen by an average of one degree. 4Wind Power in New Jersey • In 2001, New Jersey’s coal, oil, and aging plants generate tons of radioactive gas-fired power plants released an waste that will remain lethal for centuries. estimated 19 million metric tons of • Exposure to radiation from nuclear carbon dioxide—emissions equivalent waste can cause serious health prob to those from half of the cars on New lems, including cancer, developmental Jersey’s roads. disorders, hereditary disease, acceler ated aging, and immune system Air and Water Pollution damage. • New Jersey’s four nuclear power plants Fossil fuels burned to produce electricity have generated and currently store also contribute to New Jersey’s and the 1,688 metric tons of spent fuel. These region’s air and water pollution problems, facilities have no safe storage options threatening the health of residents and im for their waste and aging equipment at pacting our quality of life. the plants increases the odds of an • During 2003, the eight-hour health accident. standard for ground-level ozone • An accident involving radioactive (“smog”) was exceeded 79 times in material—whether due to mishandling, New Jersey, and the U.S. Environmen equipment fatigue or a terrorist tal Protection Agency has designated act—could endanger thousands of all of New Jersey as violating health people, including the growing popula standards for ozone. Ground-level ozone, tion of Ocean and Salem counties and which is partially caused by emissions of the greater Philadelphia metro area. nitrogen oxides (NOx), can lead to asthma, bronchitis, increased suscepti • Evacuation plans are woefully bility to bacterial infections and other inadequate. respiratory problems. • Acid rain, the result of NOx and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, kills forests Wildlife and Habitat and damages aquatic ecosystems. In Destruction much of New Jersey, 10 to 20 percent Statistics about wildlife deaths related to of surface waters are acidic due to acid different energy sources indicate that wind rain. Over 90 percent of the streams in power, a renewable energy source, has a New Jersey’s Pine Barrens are chroni more modest impact on wildlife and habi cally acidic (the highest rate in the tat than do coal, natural gas, or nuclear nation), killing resident trout. power. • Mercury from coal-fired power plants has contaminated the state’s • Mining for coal or for uranium de lakes and streams, putting children at stroys vast areas of habitat. A single risk of nuerological damage and mine can strip up to ten square miles, prompting a statewide advisory on fish disrupting individual animals and in consumption. some cases entire species. Coal mining in Tennessee threatens the habitat of the Cerulean warbler, a species that is in precipitous decline. Nuclear Hazards • Nuclear power plants disrupt aquatic Nuclear power plants are another environ habitat. New Jersey’s Salem Nuclear mental crisis in the making. New Jersey’s Generating Station draws water from Executive Summary 5 the Delaware River for cooling pur • Opportunities for participation from poses, killing 3 billion fish annually. all involved constituencies. • One study of wind turbines indicates • A comparison to potential impacts of an average of 2.3 avian fatalities at each traditional electricity production turbine each year, for a total of 10,000 options, to ensure that the conse to 40,000 birds killed per year nation quences of coal, natural gas, or nuclear wide. As more wind farms are erected power are considered. in the United States, new research • Clear decision criteria established in continues to discover ways to design advance: what factors will be consid and site these facilities to minimize ered, what requirements a facility must wildlife disruption from wind meet regarding environmental and farms. public health impacts, and how those impacts will be evaluated (site studies, computer modeling, or other methods). Wind: The Least Damaging • Independent review of the developer’s plans by technical experts who can Choice effectively assess impacts of the Wind has great potential for generating development. electricity that we have only begun to tap. • A timeline for the permitting process While concerns about wind power’s impacts including interim steps and decision on vistas and birds and more recently on points, so that developers can plan bats have slowed its development, the im their project and the public can be pacts are minor when compared to the made aware of opportunities for harm caused by the mining and burning of comment. coal and natural gas, or by nuclear power. Wind power does not contribute to global • Post-construction monitoring of the warming, and produces no air pollution or turbines. wastes. For these reasons, wind power, in combination with energy efficiency mea Because few wind power facilities have been sures, constitutes one of the few sources constructed in coastal areas of the East with which to reasonably meet New Jersey’s Coast of the United States and none yet growing electricity demand. offshore, there is some uncertainty about Any specific wind project, whether on the potential impacts of such an installa shore or offshore, will have impacts. A per tion. No permitting process will be able to mitting process should be put in place to provide this data. Rather, the information examine impacts for ecological significance. will come from the first few projects as they An appropriate wind project permitting are built and begin operating. In light of process will allow decision makers and the the relative environmental consequences of public to weigh the local impacts of a wind the state’s current and future energy sup development against the broader effects of ply options, New Jersey should encourage alternative power sources. one or more wind facilities as test cases, and The review process for any wind fa then apply the data gathered from those cility in New Jersey should include the developments to the review of future following: proposals. 6Wind Power in New Jersey Introduction eople are drawn to New Jersey’s coast gases that trap solar radiation near the by its natural beauty and resources. earth’s surface. This has resulted in rising PMiles of open beach offer space for a global temperatures, leading to changes in quiet stroll or a lively family outing.

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