New
York Times: Yesterday Governor Chris Christie announced
that New Jersey would become the first state to withdraw from
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state trading
system, reports Mireya Navarro for the
New York Times. Under RGGI, 10 Northeastern and
mid-Atlantic states ranging from Maine to Maryland set a
ceiling on carbon dioxide emissions and require power plants to
purchase credits that allow them to emit specified amounts of
carbon dioxide. According to Christie, the initiative
“does nothing more than tax electricity, tax our
citizens, tax our businesses, with no discernible or measurable
impact upon our environment.” Environmental advocates
called the decision a serious blow to the state’s efforts
to reduce emissions from power plants and foster a shift from
fossil fuels to renewable energy. Nevertheless, Christie says
that New Jersey would continue to work to reduce its carbon
dioxide emissions by increasing the proportion of electricity
generated by natural gas, the Sun, and the wind.
