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Christie Pulls NJ Out Of Cap & Trade To Titillate 2012 Speculation
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 27, 2011
Modified May 27, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 27, 2011
Modified May 27, 2011
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How much longer can Chris Christie sheepishly deny the siren song of destiny? Roger Ailes had diamond-encrusted kneepads made to beg the New Jersey governor to run, and accordingly The Post reported that Barry is taking him serious enough to call a few IHOPs in Jersey to ask how many sides of bacon he eats with his Cinnastack Pancakes. Now, as Christie pulls his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or "Reggie") it seems he's attempting to solidify his right-wing bonafides, but at what cost?
RGGI is essentially a regional cap and trade program, which forces power providers to purchase emissions licenses until they're low enough to be auctioned off, thus giving them incentive to keep pollution levels low. Naturally this is anathema for the more conservative wing of the Republican party (the one that continues to cannibalize the now-almost-non-existent moderates) so Christie titillated his growing fan base by declaring "RGGI does nothing more than tax electricity, tax our citizens, tax our businesses, with no discernible or measurable impact upon our environment." Christie took "$65 million in the state's designated RGGI money to offset a $10.7 billion budget deficit" last year. But sure! Run with "no measurable impact!"
In his announcement, Christie at least acknowledged the existence of man-made global warming, citing "undeniable data" from "over 90 percent of the world's scientists," and that "in the past I've always said that climate change is real and it's impacting our state." That's not entirely true. Back in November of last year, Christie said "Mankind, is it responsible for global warming? Well I'll tell you something. I have seen evidence on both sides of it. I'm skeptical—I'm skeptical." But despite his admission that global warming is real, it's a clear nod to his base (should he commit suicide and decide to run for president) that he's willing to kill an effective, revenue-generating program that promotes cleaner energy in the name of "WE HAD RECORD SNOWFALL THIS YEAR WHAT GLOBAL WARMIN'?" James Inhofe is somewhere smoking a cigar made of baby seals and smiling.
Tagged
2012
Chris Christie
global warming
gop
hoax
republicans
roger ailes
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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