Bill Passed by State Senate May Inhibit Township's Future Energy Plans

Lacey Township has its eyes fixed on building a gas-fired power plant behind Oyster Creek Generating Station, Committeeman Dave Most said. But a bill signed by Gov. Chris Christie may hinder its plans.

The bill, signed on Jan. 28, would help finance the establishment of gas-fired power plants in the state, allowing a generating capacity of up to 2,000 megawatts.

Applications for energy providers to build gas-fired plants were originally due Feb. 4, when the bill was initially passed by state legislators, but the date was changed to Feb. 14 when the Board of Public Utilities met last week, Greg Reinert, Director of Communications at the Board of Public Utilities said.

According to Mayor Gary Quinn, the new gas-fired power plants would qualify for state subsidies. Most said it would use taxpayer money and subsidies for a period of time.

“Initially we had been talking about bringing in a gas-fired plant which would make the most sense because it’s clean, and gas is relatively cheap to run,” Quinn said. But the township is concerned because of the bill at hand, Quinn added.

Quinn believes two plants to produce 1,800 megawatts have already been earmarked. The bill was originally known as the “LS Power Bill” because its aim was to provide guarantees for LS Power Development L.L.C. to build a gas-fired power plant in West Deptford, the home of state Senate President Steven Sweeney. The other plant may be built in the district of a colleague of Sweeney’s, Quinn said.

“The playing field should be fair across the state,” Quinn said. “Everything they need is already in place here.”

Lacey Township already has a natural gas-line in place and has the capacity for an 800-megawatt facility, Most said.

“Certainly Oyster Creek should be a priority because we already have a transmission line and everything else in place,” Quinn said. “If the state was involved in the decision process to shut down Oyster Creek they should have given priority to Oyster Creek as far as having the ability to have one of those plants built versus going to an area where you just roll in, where you don’t have any transmission lines or anything in place.”

The plant Most has in mind would be a transition plant when Oyster Creek closes in 2019. The property behind the Exelon operated plant, is owned by FirstEnergy, also known as JCP&L. When Oyster Creek closes, the township would like to transfer to another generation station, Most said.

“All I’m trying to do is make us whole as a township because we’re fully dependent on that ratable,” Most said. “I’m looking out for the interest of our town, that we have clean energy. It’s important because it basically carries our infrastructure.”

According to Most, Exelon made it clear that the corporation does not intend to build a plant behind Oyster Creek. Most has been communicating with JCP&L.

“It’s working its way through,” Most said. “There are interested parties. We’re interested in entering an agreement with anyone interested.”

Most, who has taken the lead on the possibilities of future generation in Lacey, said the township has been feverishly trying to find people who would entertain the idea of building a generation facility in Lacey Township.

A gas-fired power plant would not generate as many jobs as Oyster Creek but it would offer construction jobs and would serve the township, county, and state, Most said.

“It would meet the goals of the energy master plan,” Most said.

Congressman Jon Runyan’s office recently met with Bob Martin, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, to discuss new generation facilities as well as Lacey Township’s situation, Most said. Runyan also wrote a letter to Martin.

“I just want to thank Runyan for representing our town and looking out for our interests,” Most said.

The closing of Oyster Creek could potentially financially devastate Lacey as it receives 11 million dollars from the state for Oyster Creek, which is 40 percent of township’s budget.

“It depends on the continuation of the bill where they promised we would still receive the revenue from the state but that’s a bill and bills could be changed. It’s very dynamic right now,” Most said.

If Lacey Township and an energy provider miss the cut for the state’s new energy master plan, they could still move forward in the private sector but they would not be as competitive, Quinn said. Plants under the new bill would have an edge over those in the private industry trying to build another plant because they would have the support of the subsidy.

“It’s going to be very hard to do business competitively,” Quinn said. “We’re trying to put Lacey into the mix so we don’t get left out.”