Wind power or hot air? Foes question Christie’s shift on clean energy.
….Why the project stalled — and why New Jersey will almost certainly miss its goal of 1,100 megawatts of wind-generated electricity before 2021 — is the subject of intense debate here. Some blame the governor, whose enthusiasm for wind energy appeared to flag around the time he began exploring a run for the Republican presidential nomination. Political opponents say the turning point was a series of meetings in 2011 and 2012 with key Republican donors, including billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, oil-industry magnates who have bankrolled campaigns against renewable energy.
Since then, the governor who once promised to be “New Jersey’s No. 1 clean-energy advocate” has spent more time stumping on behalf of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline — an oil conveyance 1,200 miles from New Jersey at its closest point — than in lobbying for wind turbines, critics say.
