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January 9, 2011ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY BILL No. 3992

To the General Assembly:

Pursuant to Article V, Section I, Paragraph 14 of the New

Jersey Constitution, I am returning Assembly Committee Substitute

for Assembly Bill No. 3992 with my recommendations.

This bill creates a new category of utility-scale wind

development on farmland that would be exempt from any meaningful

local or state regulatory review. The bill appropriately

recognizes that clean, renewable wind energy is important to the

States energy and environmental goals and can contribute to the

success of the agriculture industry in New Jersey. However, in

its current form, the bills provisions would undermine the

States existing Farmland Preservation Program and emasculate

ongoing efforts to authorize responsible farm-based wind energy

development that would not disrupt agricultural purposes.

Although establishing responsible wind energy generation on

farmland is an important goal, this bill is too broad and may have

the unintended consequence of undermining the Farmland

Preservation Program by opening preserved farms to large, utility-

scale development. Under current law, preserved farms must meet

certain requirements to ensure their energy installations can

satisfy the energy demands of the farm without interfering with

agricultural operations, so as to not preempt agriculture as the

primary use of the land. Major non-agricultural use of

permanently preserved farmland is contrary to voter referenda

approving Farmland Preservation Program funding. As such,

including preserved farmland in the exempt category of wind-energy

development created by this bill could directly undermine the

Farmland Preservation Program and threaten its future funding

support.

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In addition, the bill would circumvent the States

development of regulations regarding responsible farm-scale wind

energy projects pursuant to the 2010 renewable energy farming law

and evade reasonable local review of wind energy facilities. The

State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) expects to adopt

final regulations with respect to responsible farm-scale wind

energy projects consistent with existing law in 2012. I cannot

approve the provisions of this bill that would interfere with that

ongoing effort and would eliminate appropriate local review when

applicable.

Finally, under the new category of utility-scale wind

generation on farms, the bill sets a high noise standard (65dB)

for the daytime use of wind turbines. Rural areas of New Jersey

often have ambient sound levels near 30 dBA, and an increase in 10

dBA is perceived as a doubling in loudness. As a result, the

noise level permitted in the bill -- even for non-preserved

farmland -- could be disruptive to nearby properties and should

not be automatically exempt from review. The SADC is working with

the Rutgers Noise Technical Assistance Center to research the

latest science on sound emissions from wind turbines as it

develops regulations pursuant to the 2010 renewable energy farming

law. This bill would interfere with SADCs flexibility to

consider such research in crafting appropriate noise standards

that will balance farm-scale wind turbine development with

community impacts.

Accordingly, I recommend that the bill be amended to remove

preserved farmland from the new category of utility-scale wind

development, to maintain the integrity of both the ongoing

administrative process to approve responsible farm-scale wind-

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energy development on all non-preserved farmland and appropriate

local review of wind energy facilities, and to preserve the SADCs

ability to craft reasonable noise standards that will balance wind

turbine development with community impacts.

Therefore, I herewith return Assembly Committee Substitute

for Assembly Bill No. 3992 and recommend that it be amended as

follows:

Page 2, Section 2, Lines 23-44: Delete Lines 23-44 intheir entirety

Page 3, Section 2, Lines 1-37: Delete Lines 1-37 in theirentirety

Page 3, Section 3, Line 39: Delete 3. and insert2.

Page 3, Section 3, Lines 39-40: Delete Notwithstanding

any other law, or rule orregulation adoptedpursuant thereto, to thecontrary, wind and insertWind

Page 3, Section 3, Line 41: Delete to and insertmay

Page 4, Section 3, Line 3: Delete shall be exemptfrom any and insertsubject to

Page 4, Section 3, Lines 5-6: Delete except as mayapply pursuant toParagraph b. of thissection and insert asset forth in applicablelaw


Page 4, Section 3, Line 23: Delete (5) and insert(4)






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Page 5, Section 3, Line 3: Delete c. and insertb.






Respectfully,

[seal] /s/ Chris Christie

Governor

Attest:

/s/ Kevin M. ODowd

Deputy Chief Counsel to the Governor

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