Today two bad frack gas bills got a hearing and advanced forward in Trenton. It is outrageous that during lame duck, with time running out to avert the climate crisis, legislators are considering bills to increase highly potent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Take action now! Send a letter to your legislators, the Governor and the top legislative leaders telling them that the public is watching, and we don’t want these frack gas bills moving!

The first bill, A5655, allows utilities to charge ratepayers to increase our dependence on GHG’s for investments in falsely-called “renewable natural gas” and carbon capture of “waste carbon dioxide”. To avoid climate catastrophe, we need LESS, NOT MORE investments in GAS and - we need investments in carbon-free energy! For those interested in a deeper dive on why there is no such thing as Renewable Natural Gas, check out these factsheets from EarthJustice/Sierra Club and Food and Water Watch. In short, it is nothing more than a term polluters use to greenwash the destructive and harmful impacts of fossil fuels and other sources of climate pollution

The second bill, S4133, would BAN the state from mandating electric heating or water heating systems as the sole or primary means of providing hot water and heat to buildings. The bill falsely implies electrification is more expensive and is currently being mandated when nothing could be further from the truth. This legislation is a blatant gift to the frack gas lobby and is actively throwing up a roadblock to averting climate catastrophe as the scientific consensus is that electrification must be a primary strategy to fight climate change.

Governor Murphy has made reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030. That’s 60 million metric tons/year by 2030 - an enormous challenge as New Jersey has done too little to reduce GHGs. We now have 8 years left to do the almost impossible but instead of dealing with the true problem, the legislature has decided to make this problem even worse by locking in more gas infrastructure that will ultimately have to be replaced or abandoned.

These bills are being rushed through committee during lame duck when the legislators hope you won’t notice them. If the legislature believes these bills are good for the environment they should withdraw them until they can clearly state the amounts by which these bills will reduce greenhouse gases. SEND THEM AN EMAIL RIGHT NOW! Make sure that they know you are watching! No holiday gifts for the gas lobby! No additional gas infrastructure to increase the destructiveness of climate change!

Thank you for your activism!