Mid-Atlantic Port
Resources: A measure of total energy production and consumption per capita
Market: The cost of consumption, measured in electricity prices and gasoline taxes
Infrastructure: Capacity to generate and refine energy sources; miles of pipelines
Due in part to its Solar Renewable Energy Certificate program, New Jersey is 5th in the nation in solar energy production, providing .14% of the nation’s total energy production.
The Mid-Atlantic has the lowest per-capita energy production of any region.
The Mid-Atlantic Port states—Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland—mostly occupy coastal lowlands and do not possess significant fossil fuel resources, save for some minor coal and natural gas deposits at the western tip of Maryland. New Jersey and Delaware both generate electricity from nuclear power plants, but the three states are otherwise largely dependent on imported petroleum, natural gas and coal for the rest of their energy needs.
A network of pipelines links the region to petroleum from the distant Gulf region and to natural gas from the nearby Marcellus Shale. The northern terminus of the Colonial pipeline system—the nation’s largest product pipeline at 5,500 miles—is in Linden, New Jersey. The pipeline also delivers products to the Port of Baltimore for shipment. Delaware receives its natural gas via pipeline from Pennsylvania. The state also relies on coal shipped by rail from Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia for roughly a third of its electricity generation.
The Port of New York and New Jersey and Port of Baltimore are both important energy import and export hubs for fossil fuels. Tankers carrying crude oil from the West coast of Africa can be found in the New York harbor, while freighters loaded with coal leave the Chesapeake Bay for China and India.
The Port of Wilmington—a medium-sized deep-water port located at the confluence of the Christina and Delaware rivers—features a state-of-the-art bulk petroleum terminal and storage depot and accepts crude oil and petroleum products from around the globe.
Baltimore is the third largest U.S. coal export port. Coal is transported by rail from mines throughout the Appalachian region to CONSOL Energy’s Marine Terminal and the smaller Curtis Bay Terminal, where it is then shipped to European and Asian markets.
Much of the New York Harbor area lies on the New Jersey shore. The harbor has a petroleum bulk terminal storage capacity of more than 75 million barrels, making it the largest petroleum product hub in the Northeast.