The owners of an aging coal-fired power plant in southern New Jersey have abandoned plans to convert it to a natural gas facility amid a contentious legal fight over the pipeline that would feed it.

Now Gov. Phil Murphy is throwing his support behind efforts to convert the B.L. England power plant into a wind energy facility as state regulators are preparing to increase wind capacity along the Jersey Shore, according to a senior administration official with knowledge of the governor’s intentions.

Three developers have already submitted applications to the state seeking subsidies for major offshore wind projects. Converting one of the state’s oldest power plants into a wind power facility would be a symbolic step in harnessing New Jersey’s wind to power homes and businesses inland, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.

The coal plant’s closure is a victory for environmentalists in New Jersey, who vehemently opposed plans to lay a pipeline through the environmentally sensitive Pinelands region to provide natural gas to B.L. England, a project approved under Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.

It could also be a win for Murphy, who ran on a pro-environment platform but has frustrated environmental advocates, who want the governor to halt projects approved by Christie and place a moratorium on all fossil fuel development in the state.

The owner of B.L. England, RC Cape May Holdings, signaled in legal filings on Wednesday that the company had "decided not to repower” the plant, which had been the center of several lawsuits challenging state regulators’ approval of the pipeline project.

Known as the Cape Atlantic Reliability Project, the proposed 22-mile pipeline would have carried natural gas across Cumberland and Cape May counties to B.L. England.

The power plant’s pivot from coal to natural gas was a major reason for the pipeline development. But with that reason now gone, South Jersey Gas, the pipeline developer, will have to convince state regulators that the project is still needed.

They will face an uphill battle. A letter from state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s office filed on Thursday asks the court to halt the proceedings in the legal disputes. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by NJ Advance Media, says the B.L. England news “undermines the basis” under which the Pinelands Commission approved the pipeline project.

A spokeswoman for South Jersey Industries, which plans to construct the pipeline, said there was “always two parts to this project.” The spokeswoman, Marissa Travaline, said the pipeline is still needed as a secondary supply line for gas customers in the Pinelands.

“We still have 142,000 NJ residents vulnerable to a natural gas supply disruption that could cripple their households and businesses for an extended period of time if their primary supply line for natural gas is compromised,” she said in an e-mail.

Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said Thursday the plant’s closure was “a one-two punch” to the pipeline proposal.

“The purpose of this pipeline was to build a natural gas plant in Cape May," he said. "Now that purpose is hot air.

The senior administration official told NJ Advance Media that the governor is waiting for the state Board of Public Utilities to choose which wind developers will get the state’s support, but that Murphy sees “an opportunity to repurpose old sites” around the state to support the still-young solar and wind industries.

It was not clear how, exactly, the B.L. England site would be used as part of the state’s wind infrastructure. The official said the details would depend on which developers get the green light from the state.

Responding to questions regarding Murphy’s position on the pipeline project, a spokesman for the governor, Dan Bryan, said only that Murphy “has directed his team to take a hard look at energy infrastructure projects as part of an updated Energy Master Plan, which will focus on renewable energy and shift away from outdated energy sources.”

The governor “looks forward to working with the relevant state agencies and stakeholders to determine appropriate next steps" for the pipeline, Bryan said.

B.L. England’s coal-fired unit has remained online, but only in standby, in recent years. It was scheduled to be completely shut down this year pending the natural gas conversion. The facility was one of several aging coal plants to be shut down in recent years amid a shift toward natural gas and greener energy sources.

In January, PSE&G announced that it had sold retired coal plants in Mercer and Hudson Counties to a redeveloper, which plans to turn the plants into warehouse complexes.

Two other coal-fired power plants remain operational in New Jersey: The Logan Generating Plant in Gloucester County and Carney’s Point Cogen in Salem County. Both plants are owned by North American Energy Services.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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