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WASHINGTON – Laurence M. Downes, chairman and CEO of New Jersey Resources (NYSE: NJR), addressed the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today at a Natural Gas Symposium to initiate efforts for the 2005 comprehensive energy bill. Mr. Downes spoke on behalf of the nation’s 60 million natural gas customers as chairman of the Natural Gas Council, which is composed of senior executives from all of the major segments of the natural gas industry.

Mr. Downes also represented 193 local natural gas utilities across the United States as chairman of the American Gas Association. The symposium was held at 1 p.m. at the Hart Senate Office Building in Room 216. His remarks, as prepared, are as follows:

Remarks of Laurence M. Downes
U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee – January 24, 2005

Good afternoon. I am Larry Downes, chairman of the Natural Gas Council and the American Gas Association, and CEO of New Jersey Resources, a local natural gas distribution company.

Thank you for your leadership in addressing the most pressing issue facing our industry today – ensuring reasonably priced natural gas for America’s consumers.

Natural gas is America’s preferred fuel for homes and businesses. My company is at the front doors of those homes and businesses. From that perspective, I would like to tell you what I believe they would say if they were here today.

We know that demand for natural gas is growing. Supply is struggling to keep up. Customers are bearing the burden of record high prices. Prompt action must be taken. What should we do?

First, we must make an objective, dispassionate reassessment of restricted federal lands.

Large tracts of federal lands are restricted for resource activity. These limitations were appropriate when put in place decades ago. In the interim, significant technological advances have been made in developing the nation’s resources in an environmentally friendly fashion. It is time to take a fresh look, to determine which limitations remain necessary to protecting our environmental values and which do not.

Second, we must streamline and expedite federal permitting processes and ensure adequate funding.

Today, permitting processes seriously delay our ability to draw upon the nation’s ample resource base. Given the nation’s needs, we need to expedite these procedures while still observing our core environmental values. And we need to ensure that government has the fiscal resources to do so.

Third, we do not ask that environmental values be “relaxed” or “loosened.”

It is sometimes suggested that our industry seeks a “relaxation” or a “loosening” of our nation’s environmental values. We do not.

Rather, we seek a reasoned and dispassionate reconsideration of decades-old land limitations, undertaken today through the prism of the experience and technological advances gained in those years, to implement a permitting mechanism that assures proper environmental review while eliminating abuse and delay.

In summary: The time is short. The issues are clear. We need to act.

In closing I want to emphasize that the views of the Natural Gas Council largely mirror the findings of the 2003 National Petroleum Council report on natural gas, including those as to conservation and efficiency.

About New Jersey Resources
New Jersey Resources (NYSE: NJR), a Fortune 1000 company and a member of the Forbes Platinum 400, provides reliable retail and wholesale energy services to customers in New Jersey and in states from the Gulf Coast to New England, and Canada. Its principal subsidiary, New Jersey Natural Gas, is one of the fastest-growing local distribution companies in the United States, serving more than 450,000 customers in central and northern New Jersey. Other major NJR subsidiaries include NJR Energy Services and NJR Home Services. NJR Energy Services is a leader in the unregulated energy services market, providing outstanding customer service and management of natural gas storage and capacity assets. NJR Home Services offers retail customers expert heating, air conditioning and appliance services. NJR’s progress is a tribute to the more than 5,000 dedicated employees who have shared their expertise and focus on quality through more than 50 years of serving customers and the community. Their efforts have made NJR a leader in the competitive energy marketplace. For more information, visit NJR’s Web site at njliving.com.