Senate Republican Leader Anthony M. Bucco and Senator Michael Testa criticized Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats for foolishly rushing in to bailout Orsted, and in the process, wasting taxpayers’ money as reports indicate the embattled foreign wind developer is preparing to claw back $300 million owed to the State.

Sen. Anthony M. Bucco and Sen. Michael Testa criticized Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats for foolishly rushing in to bailout Orsted, and in the process, wasting taxpayers’ money. (©iStock)

“Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats must account for all the money that has been squandered on their failed extreme energy policy,” said Bucco (R-25). “By turning a blind eye to the warning signs that this program was failing and continuing to rush the process along, Murphy and the BPU failed to close the deal, and now the State risks losing $300 million. It’s like Governor Murphy is playing checkers while Orsted is playing chess.”

Reports confirmed that Orsted sent a letter to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) withdrawing their compliance filing from October 4 where $200 million was deposited into escrow. The letter claims that the BPU never issued final approval of Orsted’s filing. As a result, Orsted is fighting to keep that money plus an additional $100 million posted by the company as a guarantee to build the project.

Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats have persistently stated that no taxpayer money has been wasted.

“Taxpayers shelled out almost $1 billion for infrastructure to support wind farm owners who then walked away. An additional billion would have been wasted in tax credits for Orsted, which they thankfully won’t be getting – so we’re told,” said Testa (R-1). “There were also lots of other weird taxpayer funded projects like $5 million for a wind institute. That’s like taxpayers paying for an arena and a propaganda arm for a sports team owner who went elsewhere. Governor Murphy wants us to believe that taxpayer money wasn’t wasted because he got played.”