ASSEMBLY TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND UTILITIES COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 4882
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MAY 28, 2026
The Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4882.
As amended and reported, this bill is to be known as the “New Jersey Natural Gas Modernization Act” and requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to expedite permits issued pursuant to the “Air Pollution Control Act (1954),” the “Coastal Area Facility Review Act,” the “Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act,” and certain provisions of the New Jersey Administrative Code.
Specifically, the bill requires the DEP to establish streamlined pathways for the expeditious issuance of permits subject to the bill’s provisions, to prioritize certain projects, and to establish distinct treatments for projects requiring initial permits, including certain preconstruction permits and operating permits, and for projects requiring permit modifications.
For new permits and permit modifications, the DEP is required to abide by certain timelines established by the bill, including, but not limited to, timelines for the review of an application, the public comment and public hearing periods, and the issuance of a final agency decision regarding an application.
The bill also establishes certain requirements for certain “qualifying projects,” which are defined under the bill to mean any project located at an eligible site, which project includes: (1) physical modification to an existing natural gas-fired electric generating unit; (2) installation of new equipment integrated with an existing unit; (3) installation of a primarily natural gas-fired electric generating unit to replace retired electric generating equipment; (4) installation of co-located energy storage or renewable energy generation; or (5) any combination thereof.
Under the bill, the Board of Public Utilities, in consultation with the DEP, is required to coordinate with PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. to ensure timely interconnection review for qualifying projects and to prioritize interconnection requests that support system reliability and reduce CO2 emissions intensity.
In addition, during a declared reliability event, the bill authorizes a qualifying project to operate outside of permit-specified operating limits temporarily, provided that: (1) operation of the qualifying project is necessary to maintain grid reliability; (2) the authorization is limited to the duration of the reliability event; and (3) the facility reports emissions and operating data to the DEP within 30 days of commencing temporary operations. Moreover, the bill excludes any hours that a facility operates during a reliability event from the facility’s emissions limits or other capacity factor time limits on the operation of the facility, if applicable, of any permit held by the facility. However, the bill clarifies that nothing in the bill is to authorize a qualifying project to exceed federal emissions standards.
Finally, the bill prohibits a person from bringing a legal action against the DEP for the issuance of a permit constituting a final agency action to a qualifying project and from appealing the final agency action unless: (1) the person submitted a public comment that is substantive and unique, was submitted within the noticed comment period, contains sufficient information to put the relevant State agency on notice of the issue, and demonstrates that the person would suffer direct harm if the comment were not addressed; and (2) the legal action concerns the same subject matter that was raised in the public comment.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
(1) change the definition of “eligible site” to clarify that an eligible site is to have some and not all of its necessary site infrastructure, to remove a requirement that a permitted natural gas-fired electric generating unit is to have operated at any time within the preceding 60 months, and to provide that the necessary site infrastructure may include, but is not limited to, interconnection facilities, gas supply, or cooling or emissions-control systems. As introduced, the bill provided that necessary site infrastructure included interconnection facilities, gas supply, and cooling or emissions-control systems;
(2) expand the definition of “permit” to include permits authorized pursuant to the “Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act” and certain permits and authorizations established pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the DEP and published in the New Jersey Administrative Code;
(3) require the DEP to prioritize the issuance of permits to qualifying projects that use renewable natural gas over qualifying projects that would not use renewable natural gas;
(4) require the DEP to also prioritize the issuance of permits to qualifying projects on an eligible site where a permitted natural gas-fired electric generating unit operated at any time within the preceding 60 months but allow the DEP, at its discretion, to issue permits to qualifying projects on a site where a permitted natural gas-fired electric generating unit operated at any time before the preceding 60 months; and
(5) make technical changes.