Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who has sparred with President Donald Trump since taking office in January, pointed to nuclear energy development as an area she hopes to work with the White House on.
The New Jersey governor and Trump have disagreed on issues ranging from immigration enforcement to funding for a tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, but she said on Wednesday that she isn’t ruling out working with the president. Sherrill has made bringing down energy prices in the Garden State a focal point of her administration, and her comments come as she ramps up momentum behind her nuclear energy policy goals.
“It wasn’t that I was never going to work with him,” Sherrill said in an interview with NJ.com. “It was that I was never going to kneel to him or bow to him in any way.”
Sherrill said in the interview that, although she is involved in litigation against the Trump administration, she could see the state working with the president on nuclear energy policy. The Washington Examiner contacted both the White House and Sherrill’s office for comment.
“At the same time, we’re working with the White House because we think that they could put the finance together really well for nuclear,” Sherrill said. “I really think that the federal government’s key if we’re going to build this out at a reasonable cost and in a reasonable timetable.”
Sherrill in early April signed a bill lifting the state’s moratorium on nuclear power plant projects. The moratorium had been in place for five decades, signed in the 1970s amid a wave of concern from states about the public safety and environmental impacts of nuclear power plants after hazardous incidents such as the Three Mile Island accident.
But Sherrill is now looking to go nuclear, partially to cut costs for New Jersey ratepayers. After all, neighboring Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) has also moved on from the 1970s nuclear fear and promised to fast-track the reopening of Three Mile Island, with it ready by 2027.
“For costs to come down, we need more energy supply,” Sherrill said in a statement this month. “New Jersey is well-positioned to be a leader in next-generation nuclear energy to help bring that supply, and we are open for business.”
The Trump administration this term has worked across the aisle with Democratic governors on nuclear energy. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has visited Three Mile Island and voiced support for the Shapiro-backed reboot project.
The Trump White House has prioritized this kind of energy expansion, aiming to quadruple U.S. nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
In her Wednesday interview, Sherrill also put the nuclear conversation in the light of the United States’s competition with China.
NUCLEAR ENERGY REVIVAL FUELED BY GROWING EMBRACE BY THE LEFT
“I mean, China’s building out these power plants very, very quickly, so that could be an area,” Sherrill said regarding where she could work with Trump. “But we’re not going to name Newark airport after him to get this nuclear site done.”
