Phil Murphy’s Obsession With Wind Has Carved a Huge Opening for Jack Ciatarrelli

In one of his classic New Jersey ballads, Bruce Springsteen sings of the sun “rising over them refinery towers.”

If New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy had gotten his way, the Boss would need to update the lyric to rhapsodize about enormous wind turbines looming on the horizon instead. 

Murphy’s obsession with wind power is one of the reasons the state’s gubernatorial race is competitive and Republican Jack Ciatarrelli has a chance to upset Murphy’s potential Democratic successor, Mikie Sherrill, in a much-watched off-year election. 

Gov. Murphy brought a European-style energy strategy to New Jersey, and got European-style results.

Wind has been as much a debacle for the Garden State as it’s been for Germany, where Murphy was the ambassador prior to becoming of governor New Jersey.