Friday that handed millions of dollars in tax breaks to a foreign-based offshore wind power company — a move Republicans, commercial fishermen and activists have all opposed for its generous subsidies and potentially harmful environmental consequences.
New Jersey lawmakers narrowly passed a bill Friday that granted millions of dollars in tax breaks to an offshore wind power company.“When Orsted received approval to build Ocean Wind 1, they agreed to apply for and return to ratepayers any federal tax incentives that might become available to offset the higher costs that ratepayers are paying today for the development of wind energy,” he added.
“The hardworking people of New Jersey deserve better than Trenton’s plan to bail out foreign offshore wind corporation Orsted and give away billions of federal tax credits intended for ratepayers,” state Rep. Chris Smith said in a statement.
The bill was nearly rejected in the state Senate due to absentee legislators and a lone Democratic holdout who eventually caved. The measure eventually passed 21-14, with the Assembly approving it 44-31 along party lines. Cindy Zipf, the executive director of Clean Ocean Action, told lawmakers in a hearing that month that the wind power push had “gone too far, too fast.”
The agency has admitted offshore wind construction may “adversely affect” whale populations but has not attributed any deaths to developers’ activities.