The man who made himself famous by posing heroically in a blue windbreaker when Hurricane Sandy ravaged his state's coastal population has just as heroically thrown New Jerseyans under the bus to satisfy his Presidential ambitions:
WASHINGTON — As Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey explores a 2016 presidential campaign, he is under growing pressure from his State Legislature to rejoin a regional cap-and-trade program that would limit New Jersey’s carbon emissions — and likely hurt his chances for the Republican nomination.
Mr. Christie, who withdrew from the program in 2011 as he first considered running for president in 2012, remains adamant that New Jersey not participate in the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, even though the majority of state legislators say it would be in New Jersey’s economic and legal interests.
It doesn't seem to matter to Christie that the most cataclysmic climatic event to strike North America this decade came down with full force on his own state's citizenry. But while Christie's ego and arrogance may blind him to that the fact that his Presidential aspirations at this point are about as promising as a new Atlantic City Casino, the polluter Paladins of the Republican Party are only too happy to foster his illusions:
Some political analysts say Mr. Christie‘s motive in staying out of the plan is to placate powerful conservative groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which are highly influential in Republican primaries and consider cap-and-trade programs energy taxes that hurt business and eliminate jobs. Mr. Christie will be the main speaker at an Americans for Prosperity donor meeting in New York on Friday.
“This is one of those issues where Christie decided he’s going to take a firm position that resonates with the G.O.P. and stick with it,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J. “It doesn’t matter what the Legislature wants, it doesn’t matter what New Jersey voters want, cap-and-trade is anathema to the base of the Republican Party.”
New Jersey is one of the founding members of the
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, begun in 2005 under New Jersey's former Democratic governor, Richard Cody. The program creates a regional cap on carbon emissions and involves nine states. It requires power plants to purchase pollution "permits" from the member states. Based in part on the success of this initiative, President Obama's EPA has now proposed rules requiring all states to develop climate change plans. Christie claims that the proposed EPA rules render the program redundant and "useless." They don't. He claims that his "pledge" to eliminate coal-fired plants in New Jersey by 2030 will satisfy the proposed Rules requirement that New Jersey reduce its carbon emissions by 42% and save the state money. It
doesn't. The biggest carbon polluter in the state is actually a natural gas fired plant in Ridgefield that released 2.5 million metric tons of carbon pollutants in 2012. The bulk of New Jersey's carbon emissions come not from coal plants, but from cars, trucks and other transportation. Proceeds from the RGGI would be
used to promote energy conservation and renewable energy and help to offset these types of emissions.
Someone has finally slapped a price tag on Gov. Christie’s environmental indifference. According to an analysis from Environment Northeast, his decision to pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in 2011 has already cost New Jersey $114 million in revenue from cap-and-trade auctions, and staying out of the carbon reduction venture will cost the state another $387 million over the next six years.
In practice, New Jersey, as a member of the RGGI, would have to do very little to comply with the newly proposed EPA Rules beyond its current participation in the initiative. What Christie would like his constituents to forget is that his political masters (there really is no other word for a pair of individuals who wield life and death over Republican Presidential aspirants) want cap and trade efforts--including all existing ones--defeated at any cost. The billionaire fossil fuel magnates are implementing a full court press to reverse the President's EPA rules before they're the law of the land, because those rules, like the RGGI cap and trade plan, cut into their corporate profits. They have unequivocally indicated that any GOP candidate for President who wants their critical support must oppose cap and trade, and keeping quiet about climate change in general is a given. Conversely, any politician who acknowledges man-made climate change or supports cap and trade policies, no matter what the benefits to the climate in reducing greenhouse gases, and no matter how much economic benefit inures to his state, will find the Koch's billions deployed against him in smearing attack ads. If they ever manage to get one of their Republican puppets elected, all attempts to deal with greenhouse gas emissions that affect Koch Industries will be shelved.
So New Jersey's participation in RGGI is anything but "redundant" (as the remaining eight states governed by non-GOP Presidential aspirants well know). It's simply unacceptable to Charles and David Koch. In taking New Jersey out of the program Christie is just following the Kochs' marching orders. Because that's the only way they'll ever let him become President.
In addition to providing revenue to the state, the RGGI and efforts like cap and trade also have the support of the people of New Jersey, particularly after the eye-opening devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy:
Although many Republican politicians question the established science that burning fossil fuels warms the planet, support in New Jersey for climate-change policies increased after Hurricane Sandy battered the Northeast in 2012. Experts say no single storm can be directly attributed to climate change, but a federal study released in May, the National Climate Assessment, concluded that climate change is making the Northeast more vulnerable to deluges, rising sea levels and higher storm surges. Last year a Stanford University poll found that 80 percent of New Jersey adults think the government should take action to limit greenhouse gases from industry.
Sea levels in New Jersey are expected to rise another foot by 2050. So why would a governor of a coastal state which has not only felt the catastrophic effects of climatic disaster but whose citizens unequivocally support efforts to rein in greenhouse gases through cap and trade oppose it? Because to be a Republican these days you must become the Koch brothers' obedient dog, no matter what the people who actually elected you may think.
Americans for Prosperity, which receives funding from the libertarian billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch, spent heavily in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections to oppose candidates who supported cap-and-trade. The group took aim at Republican candidates in primary races who signaled that they would back climate-change policy, and it is expected to play a key role in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. “We were exceedingly pleased that the governor got New Jersey out of the R.G.G.I. boondoggle,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, referring to the regional plan.
Christie withdrew his state's participation in the RGGI in 2011, not coincidentally the same year he first began making noises about running for President. At around the same time he stopped speaking publicly about climate change, for fear of antagonizing the Kochs and derailing his ambitions. While his decision at that time could be attributed to crass political calculation, in the aftermath of a climatic disaster like Hurricane Sandy, which literally swept away portions of the New Jersey coastline, his actions have devolved into something worse: a contemptuous disregard for the lives and futures of the people in his own state. Before the American public got a clearer picture of the type of man he really is, Christie was only too happy to milk the disaster moment for the cameras. Now that the immediate disaster has past he's made it absolutely clear that this was just a photo op--a necessary step on the way to ingratiating himself with the people who really matter to him.