While several people have published opinions on NJ's crucial Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report, released December 15, leave it to Sierra Club NJ to provide the broadest overview of ways to sharpen the Recommendation Report during the public feedback period. Sierra Club NJ's Director, Jeff Tittel, published what is probably an outline of his formal feedback on the plan in his Asbury Park Press op-ed piece, which is certainly worth a moment of our time. Here are the specific recommendations (mostly in his words) that I picked out of his brief article:

• Establish a comprehensive energy efficiency program so that we can halve our energy needs. [It's certainly true that efficiency is NOT yet getting its due as a solution. Read this post, for instance, by a leader in the field.]
• To support energy efficiency, the Legislature must pass the Green Buildings Bill and an enhanced appliance standard.
• The plan should highlight the economic benefit from investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
  
• Limit the importation of coal-driven electricity into NJ, and stop the refurbishment of old coal-fired facilities.
• The plan should address the need to put in cooling towers at our power plants
• The plan should go further in promoting the development of new mass transit systems in appropriate places.
• Help people move into our densely populated areas.
• Support the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line.
• Redirect moneys being used to widen the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike toward refurbishing the Pulaski Skyway and the 50 percent of our bridges that are deficient in New Jersey.
• Create a car trip reduction program would give businesses funding and incentives to get people out of single-occupancy vehicles.
• Stop running new water and sewer lines into rural areas. [For much more on improving the report's land use recommendations, see my blog post on NJ Future.]
  
• Stop subsidizing the largest greenhouse gas emitter in New Jersey, Xanadu.
• Strengthen efforts to IMPLEMENT the report's recommendations.

I've written a fair bit about the state's Draft Global Warming Act Recommendation Report because policymakers and the state government will reference it many thousands of times in the coming years. My comments are in this series of blog posts.

Finally, Tittel concludes the op-ed piece by urging everyone interested in NJ's environment and Global Warming to attend the stakeholder meetings Jan 6 - 16, listed here. I'm planning to be there as well.

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