Yet, despite the operation of New Jersey’s small wind project since January, there is uncertainty about whether wind farms, particularly gigantic turbines positioned off the region’s coastline, will be embraced here. On Long Island, a 40-turbine project being considered off the South Shore is facing stiff resistance from opponents who argue that the turbines will damage pristine ocean views, fail to deliver cost-effective electricity and create environmental problems. In New Jersey, powerful local politicians have lined up behind wind power, where up to 80 turbines — rising 380 feet or more above the water along the South Jersey coastline — have been proposed to take advantage of the near-constant breezes.

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Anyone concerned about New Jersey’s energy consumption — or how he or she will be affected by the governor’s proposed energy diet — will have a chance to sound off Thursday at Atlantic Cape Community College. The college is hosting the last of four public meetings this week on Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s proposal to cut the state’s projected energy consumption by 20 percent and get more than 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020.

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Shore-wide polling of residents and summer visitors showed Monmouth County beachgoers most inclined to accept offshore wind power turbines and almost half of Ocean County respondents in favor. Those interviewed in Atlantic County coastal communities were more resistant.

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California's power shortage confirms that all of the hoopla over wind energy's credentials as a clean and renewable source of electricity is undercut by the reality of its unreliability. During an extremely hot week in August, when air conditioners were cranked up and the state was on the brink of rolling blackouts, how much help did the state get from its beloved 2,500 megawatts of wind power? Only 4 percent of its capacity, according to the California Independent System Operator, which is responsible for the state's electricity grid. Southern California Edison's 2,200 megawatts of wind capacity generated only 45 megawatts. In other words, wind energy works great — except when you need air conditioning.

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More than 500 business and market leaders throughout the state met Tuesday to learn about the latest trends in renewable energy financing, energy-efficient technologies and market transformation at the Clean Energy Conference. The event was hosted by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and its Clean Energy Program.

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A local lawmaker has asked the Corzine administration to build more than 100 windmills off Atlantic City's shore.

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Weinstein said a county facility management representative will be meeting with the firm Switch LLC to discuss the possibility of bringing alternative forms of energy to the county. After the meeting the county and the company will be conducting a survey of area homes and businesses to see which forms of energy would best meet the county's needs. The meeting will take place in the upcoming weeks and the survey will follow that, according to Weinstein.

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Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- New York, New Jersey and five other Northeast states set a goal of cutting power-plant carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent over 10 years to help curb global warming.

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Legitimate concerns about the administration of New Jersey's Clean Energy Program have been raised and must be addressed.

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Less than a day after a long-suppressed audit of the state's Clean Energy Program was released by the state Treasury Department, a Senate Republican called for an independent investigation into possible wrongdoing at the state Board of Public Utilities.

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The $850 million power line, which would be built by two companies, is intended to relieve power congestion in northern Virginia and get electricity to customers as far north as New Jersey, said officials with grid-operator PJM Interconnection.

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The goal, he said, is to make changes that will put New Jersey "ahead of the curve and make us more competitive in the future."

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A New York company is still interested in putting wind turbines off the New Jersey coast, but a de facto moratorium on turbines in federal waters is in place while federal rules are developed.

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Wind power is advocated as a clean, renewable energy source. We have no problem with that. But we'd prefer that it be harnessed elsewhere. The potential harm to the ecosystem and tourism should be reason enough to scrap the test project.

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The state shouldn't allow companies to build hundreds of windmills off the coast without first studying their effects on tourism, anglers and wildlife. There's no bigger part of New Jersey's multi-billion dollar tourism industry than the shore.

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A "test project" with up to 80 wind turbines should be built off New Jersey's coast to learn more about the potential impact and benefits of offshore wind power, a state panel recommended. But the potential impact may be significant and New Jersey must stress conservation before pursuing energy facilities in the ocean, according to a minority report included in the package.

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During the past 15 months, this Blue Ribbon Panel has identified myriad costs and benefits related to development of offshore wind turbine facilities in New Jersey’s coastal waters. Because of the lack of basic scientific data, however, this Panel cannot characterize the appropriateness of offshore wind development for this state’s coastal waters. Nonetheless, this Panel has found that New Jersey is facing a serious and growing energy crisis that must be addressed. New Jersey must assume a leadership role and set an example of responsible development of energy technologies that are reliable, renewable, and low-or zero-emission.

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ATLANTIC CITY — With coastal communities from Cape Cod to Virginia buzzing over the possibility of wind turbines rising in coastal waters, the wind power industry's biggest advertisement is right here alongside U.S. Route 30.

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - A 330-mile electric transmission line proposed by Allegheny Energy this week would begin in northern West Virginia and pass through Weirton, Morgantown, Dominion Power's Mount Storm power plant and Berkeley County before ending in Frederick County, Md.

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"Offshore wind power development has potential to generate a series of quantifiable environmental benefits. These benefits appear significant in both absolute and monetized terms, but are arguably marginal relative to the scale of existing energy production and emissions affecting New Jersey's environmental and natural resources. Offshore wind power development also presents a series of potential environmental costs. In the absence of a developed literature, the scale of many of these costs are not readily quantified or monetized, making the nature of these impacts highly uncertain and necessitating additional research." (page 70)

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