NJN covers the energy debate

by: Jason Springer

Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 11:30:00 AM EDT

NJN devoted their first three segments of the news program last night to the energy debate in the Governor's race. Here is the video and then I'll discuss some of the highlights after:

The first segment had Michael Aron covering Chris Christie's energy event. At the end of the segment, they showed Christie's SUV driving away from the event and said that he refused to take questions, what a surprise. Aron even noted that it's strange to see a candidate roll out a major policy plan and not be willing to talk about it. They interviewed the Solar trade association chief who said he thinks they need to hear something stronger than what they have heard.

The second segment covered Governor Corzine's energy event. Corzine said Christie's attacks are ridiculous. He said that NJ is installing and producing solar panels at a rate that is only surpassed by California, who is 5 times as big. Talking about Christie's attacks, the Governor called them:

A political massage of something that doesn't relate to the facts.

The third segment brought in the director of Sales and marketing for Sun Farm Network, Pam Frank. While she said she didn't want to take sides in the argument between Christie and Corzine, she says that NJ has been an undisputed leader in the clean energy agenda. She says in the last decade we've laid the foundation for what will be phenomenal growth in NJ. She talked about the potential for job creation in the industry, past what Christie argues in his plans. She wouldn't get into the differing statistics the campaigns are using, but said that NJ has done phenomenal work to lay a unique policy framework, really what she thinks is the only competitive market framework in the world for Solar energy.

So while Christie continues to complain, people in the industry and even Christie's own campaign co-chairs acknowledge that people are trying to model themselves after what New Jersey has already been doing.

Jason Springer :: NJN covers the energy debate