Gov. Christie declares regional cap-and-trade initiative ineffective, 'gimmicky' partnership

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Thursday declared the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade program designed to reduce air pollution a failure and promised to pull New Jersey out of it by the end of the year. While acknowledging humans contribute to climate change, Christie called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a "gimmicky" partnership and said it does nothing to reduce...

Jerry McCrea/The Star LedgerGov. Christie and NJDEP commissioner Robert Martin announce changes in the NJ environmental policy during a press conference at the Statehouse Thursday.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Thursday declared the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade program designed to reduce air pollution a failure and promised to pull New Jersey out of it by the end of the year.

While acknowledging humans contribute to climate change, Christie called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a "gimmicky" partnership and said it does nothing to reduce the gases that fuel the problem.

"This program is not effective in reducing greenhouse gases and is unlikely to be in the future," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference. "The whole system is not working as it was intended to work. It’s a failure."

Critics of the governor called the decision a calculated move to appease conservatives nationwide, who have long pressured him to ditch the program, while still appearing to be pro-environment. They say it puts Christie, a national GOP star, on the same philosophical page as many within his party.

"The governor seems to be bent on impeding the progress we have made in generating green jobs powered by a green economy," said Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset). "His missteps appear to be driven by partisan politics and are jeopardizing New Jersey’s clean energy future."

The initiative caps the total carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 10 Northeast and mid-Atlantic Istates, and sets a goal for reducing the pollution by 10 percent by 2018.

The plants are assigned a certain amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit. They can then buy and sell credits depending on if they need to release more or less of the gas.

Most of the credits are bought at auction, with the proceeds going back to the participating states to pay for renewable and clean energy projects.

RGGI Inc., a nonprofit that oversees the program, said in a statement that it will continue the program without New Jersey. Efforts to withdraw from the program in New Hampshire and Delaware have failed.

Conservatives have long savaged cap-and-trade as expensive and ineffective, and have during the past year ratcheted up pressure on Christie to leave the regional program. Environmentalists support the approach as a way to encourage power generators to produce cleaner energy.

In a preemptive strike on his detractors, Christie touted other clean energy initiatives, such as reusing landfills as solar farms, supporting offshore wind energy and opposing any new coal-fired power plants.

"From the outset the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was a job killer," said Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Warren). "We can grow jobs and businesses and protect the environment at the same time without having to sacrifice one for the other."

Democrats and environmentalists said Christie is more interested in scrapping a model initiative than helping fix it.

"I’m glad the governor went to global warming school but he didn't learn his lesson," said David Pringle, political director of New Jersey Environmental Federation, which backed Christie in the 2009 campaign.

Luis Martinez, an energy attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Christie bowed to oil lobbyists who are bent on toppling the initiative. "Unfortunately, they found fertile ground here in New Jersey," Martinez said.

Christie said his analysis of the program found it was not effective at reducing greenhouse gases. He said the credits, which have fallen in price during the past year, were never expensive enough to change power plant behavior.

Without that incentive, Christie said the initiative was no more than a useless tax. He did, however, raid the program’s $65.2 million balance last year to help pay for the current year’s budget.

Environmentalists acknowledged the credits were worth less. RGGI Inc. said carbon dioxide emissions fell about 30 percent since 2005, and nearly half of that was because of the program.

Backing out of the program would save typical New Jersey households about $3.38 per year, according to RGGI Inc.

But the move will be worth far more politically for Christie, said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair University. "This provides yet another example of the governor using one set of rhetoric in the state but enacting policies that are designed to placate a national conservative constituency," Harrison said.

Staff writer Ginger Gibson contributed to this report.