LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. — New Jersey is seeking a new round of proposals to build wind energy farms off its coastline, forging ahead with its clean energy goals even as local opposition and challenging economics create blowback to the effort.

The state Board of Public Utilities last week opened a fourth round of solicitations for offshore wind farms, giving interested companies until July 10 to submit proposals.

“Advancing this solicitation really demonstrates that we are committed to seeing the economic development that offshore wind is bringing to New Jersey and will continue to bring, as well as the clean energy that is so important for the residents of the state,” said the board’s president, Christine Guhl-Sadovy.

There are currently three preliminarily approved offshore wind projects in New Jersey.

One is from Chicago-based Invenergy and New York-based energyRe. Called Leading Light Wind, it would be built 40 miles off Long Beach Island and would consist of up to 100 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.

Another, called Attentive Energy Two, would be built 42 miles off Seaside Heights and would not be visible from the shoreline. It is a joint venture between Paris-based TotalEnergies and London-based Corio Generation, and it would power over 650,000 homes.

The third is Atlantic Shores, a joint partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC. It would generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes and would be 8.4 miles off the coast of Long Beach Island.

New Jersey has set a goal of getting 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2035, and it wants to become the East Coast leader in offshore wind.

“The strong wind resources off New Jersey’s shoreline are well-suited to the development of a robust offshore wind program,” said Kira Lawrence, a senior policy advisor with the board. “New Jersey remains committed to ensuring that natural resources including fish, marine mammals, birds and other wildlife are protected throughout the development, construction, operation and decommissioning of offshore wind projects.”

Most of the state’s environmental groups support offshore wind as a way to phase out the burning of fossil fuels that contribute to climate change and the severe weather that New Jersey and other places have experienced.

“To achieve the necessary carbon emission reductions to protect our communities from the climate crisis, we need a major transition in our energy sector now,” Anjuli Ramos-Busot, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, wrote in comments submitted to the board before its vote. “Offshore wind is the future, and one of our greatest clean energy solutions that will benefit the local communities here in our state without the further burning of fossil fuels.”

Other comments sent to the board oppose offshore wind projects as economically unsound and environmentally risky.

“If the NJPBU and other agencies along with the offshore wind developers are so sure that there will be no negative impact on fishing, tourism or real estate, then these claims should be guaranteed in the solicitation, along with appropriate penalties if harm to the tourism, fishing and real estate values occurs,” the group Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach wrote to the board.

Many offshore wind opponents blame site-preparation work for a spate of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast over the past year and a half. But numerous federal and state agencies say there is no evidence of a link between the projects and the animal deaths, some of which were attributed to ship strikes or entanglement with fishing gear.

Last October, the Danish wind giant Orsted scrapped plans for two wind farms off New Jersey, saying they were no longer feasible economically.

A driver was injured after his pickup truck ran off the road Saturday afternoon and overturned — closing one lane of the southbound New Jersey Turnpike outer roadway.

State Police responded to the crash at 3:54 p.m. on the Turnpike local lanes in Cranbury Township.

A Ford pickup truck ran off the highway, hit the guiderail and flipped over, a State Police spokesperson said.

The crash closed the right lane and shoulder of the highway, according to traffic reports.

The driver sustained minor injuries and was taken to a local area hospital, authorities said. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry

What the tunnel means for the regional economy

James Hughes, professor and dean emeritus of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said the current Northeast Corridor rail line is not up to the standards of high-speed rail travel in Europe, but it carries more passengers between New York and Washington, D.C. than airlines.

“It is critical for moving people up and down the corridor,” he said. “So it is extraordinarily important to the regional economy; the regional economy is the largest part of the U.S. economy.”

He said the tunnel will allow for more mobility and convenience for commuters and “is vitally, vitally important.”

A report released at the beginning of the week by the Regional Plan Association finds that the Hudson Tunnel Project will generate $19.6 billion in economic activity and create approximately 95,000 jobs during its construction.

Hughes noted the specific impact of the number of jobs created and the amount of economic activity generated is always hard to predict, “but certainly it will be one of the largest infrastructure construction projects, perhaps ever.”

Sigmund agreed the project is vital because it gives Jersey residents easy access to “quality, reliable rail transportation, because so many people use it to get to and from their jobs and to and from entertainment.”

The project’s timeline

Sigmund said work on the Hudson Tunnel began on both sides of the river last November, and that the Hudson River ground stabilization project will begin this summer.

“Where the tunnel comes up, as it gets towards Manhattan, the bottom of the Hudson River has a sort of chocolate pudding consistency there,” he said. “And it needs to be hardened with a combination of soil and water and concrete so that the tunnel-boring machines can get through.”

He said the new tunnels should be completed in 2034. As part of the project, construction workers are renovating the two existing tubes one at a time. The whole project, along with renovations, should be done in 2038.

Who is funding the Hudson Tunnel Project?

Sigmund said $12 billion is coming in as federal investment. “It’s really an unprecedented amount of federal money towards a mass transit project, but it’s necessary because this is a critical link,” he said.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, along with New York and New Jersey, is investing $4 billion, with Jersey responsible for $300 million.

The Garden State is already paying $1.6 billion to build a new Portal North Bridge, a few miles from where the Northeast Corridor line moves underground and goes under the Hudson River.

When completed, the new rail tubes will stretch a total of nine miles, from North Bergen, New Jersey to Penn Station, New York.