At N.J. port, that ‘giant sucking sound’ may return | Editorial

On the day after Election Day, it's appropriate to return to the 1992 presidential election, during which eccentric independent candidate Ross Perot warned of a "giant sucking sound."

Perot, who died in 2019, was issuing a caution about the just-negotiated North American Free Trade Treaty (NAFTA). The "giant sucking sound," he said during the 1992 campaign, was that of American jobs and factories heading to Mexico.

Are we hearing another, but more localized, "giant sucking sound" as we sail past another presidential election?

There's disturbing news about South Jersey's Port of Paulsboro, and the big role it was supposed to play in a shift to offshore wind energy. The NJ Advance Media story was headlined, "Massive offshore wind monopiles are being scrapped at N.J. wind port, mayor says."

The story confirmed that more than a dozen of the monopiles — giant steel poles on which wind turbines are mounted and moored in the ocean — are being dismantled for scrap metal. That means someone is doing work there, but not the ongoing jobs that this manufacturing facility was supposed to bring. Today's giant sucking sound? It could be the evaporation of jobs and substantial taxpayer backing that was received by the Paulsboro port on the Delaware River and another "wind port" in Salem County. The down-river Salem port was upgraded and repurposed to send the monopiles by barge to the Atlantic coast.

It's no secret that New Jersey's ambitious plans for offshore wind energy have stalled — and "stalled" may be a charitable word — during the past year. The down-the-drain sucking began with Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted withdrawing plans to build what was supposed to be New Jersey's first-to-market offshore wind farm complex . The abrupt cancelation happened just about a year ago today.

While other companies' wind plans for New Jersey remain , the pace has slowed considerably. The whole offshore wind industry in the United States has taken multiple hits lately due to local opposition, a couple of turbine blade mishaps, and concerns about overall costs and financing.

It's discouraging to hear that monopiles are being dismantled and sold for scrap, as if they were rusting, mothballed battleships, not a sign of cutting-edge technology. State and port officials need to say why the destruction was authorized, instead of preserved for future installations.

As far as the overall Paulsboro port is concerned, the monopile factory was a fortunate deal that paved over bad numbers for an underutilized port that has never generated the long-term jobs promised when it opened seven years ago. In 2020, Paulsboro borough officials mused that as few as 25 people were employed at the cargo terminal run by the public South Jersey Port Corp. The port, by the way, cost $225 million in publicly backed financing to build.

Ørsted and its manufacturing partner were supposed to put $250 million into wind-related Paulsboro facilities. But, the state earlier this year settled for $125 million from Ørsted over its wind project withdrawal, far less than the $300 million "breakup fee" that had been negotiated in advance.

Has anyone ever audited the numbers, including public contributions that have gone into the Paulsboro port project, as well as the Salem one? We'd suggest Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh, and that the audit be investigative in nature.

Going forward, wind power still must be a priority for New Jersey, but there are warnings that its commitment, both financially and from a power-contribution standpoint, needs some right-sizing for the near future. Also, several policy wild cards are ahead, including federal government support and the result of the presidential election. Donald Trump has made clear what he thinks of wind power, and he has nothing positive to say about it.

Next year's gubernatorial election will play a role, too. None of the major potential candidates seems to be as anti-wind as Trump, but electing someone who is not an absolute booster of these projects or is not a fan of term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy's energy master plan — instead of, say, former state Senate President Stephen Sweeney — could crush momentum or shove projects onto a back burner.

That "giant sucking sound," it turns out, may not have been relegated to the scrap heap (pun intended) of presidential campaign history after all. In South Jersey, we may be hearing the sound again, even if we aren't fully aware of it yet.