Chris Christie Still Counting On New Jersey Voters To Pick A Pig In A Poke

"It's official: Governor Christie is a card carrying member of the Flat Earth Society. We know that climate change is causing more severe weather, like Hurricane Sandy. But Governor Christie ignores overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of right-wing ideology. It's no surprise coming from a governor who's rolled back environmental protections, defunded investment in clean energy and withdrawn our state from a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gases. New Jersey should be leading efforts to fight climate change, not burying our heads in the sand." -Barbara Buono

Barbara Buono, who gave me the above quote this morning, has a tough road ahead. After Hurricane Sandy hit and Chris Christie was seen working amicably with President Obama, Christie's approval rating's-- which had been in the toilet-- soared. According to a PPP poll at the end of last year, his approval (67%) was the highest of any governor in the country. And his 25% disapproval was one of the lowest. I went to talk with a neighbor, originally from New Jersey, about his Tesla the other day. He's a progressive Democrat and we wound up talking about Christie and the New Jersey governor's race. He didn't know much about Buono but he said he did know a lot about Christie, primarily that he's "a moderate." I asked him if he knew Christie had vetoed the marriage equality bill or that he's vehemently anti-Choice or that he would like to defund public schools on behalf of financial predators who want to make billions with private schools. He didn't.

All he really knew was that Christie took a walk on the beach with Obama after Hurricane Sandy and that he stood up to right-wing congressional bullies from the South who didn't want to fund aid to New Jersey. So it was somewhat ironic Monday when Christie got up in front of voters and put on his climate change denier hat.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Monday said there is no proof climate change caused Hurricane Sandy.

Christie rejected an accusation by public radio station WNYC that New Jersey Transit was systemically unprepared for extreme storms in the run up to Sandy.

From WNYC:

"Well, first of all, I don’t agree with the premise of your question because I don’t think there’s been any proof thus far that Sandy was caused by climate change," Christie said, as residents and officials from Lavallette clapped. "But I would absolutely expect that that’s exactly what WNYC would say, because you know liberal public radio always has an agenda. And so since I disagree with the premise of your question I don’t feel like I have to answer the rest of it.”

Christie was speaking at a Lavallette, N.J., ceremony commemorating the town’s restored boardwalk on the Atlantic Ocean, which Sandy destroyed.

The East Coast storm last fall caused billions in damage, as Congress approved $60.2 billion of relief funding despite objections from fiscal conservatives.

While climate scientists avoid attributing individual events to climate change, they largely say its effects-- such as warmer waters and higher sea levels-- intensify storms such as Sandy.

Sandy underscored the fear of some federal and state lawmakers across the country that climate change and the extreme storms linked to it made coast regions vulnerable to natural disasters.

A couple of years ago, Senator Buono teamed up with Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) to do an OpEd for the Newark Star-Ledger, Climate Initiative flip-flop in NJ is troublesome. They pointed out that Christie first campaigned as a supporter of climate change initiatives but that once he got into office, threw all that aside and adopted a deranged right-wing ideological perspective.

Experts have been warning us for years about the impact our dependency on fossil fuels will have on our climate, not to mention our national security due to the heavy reliance this creates on foreign oil. From Hurricane Katrina to massive flooding in the South and Midwest, to the recent widespread destruction caused by tornadoes in the South, we are witnessing more extreme weather patterns each year. By the end of this century, experts predict that coastal areas such as the Meadowlands and Atlantic City will likely be uninhabitable because of chronic flooding.

We have been firmly committed to taking a proactive approach to address climate change. In mid-2007 and early 2008, we sponsored two landmark measures that passed and were signed into law-- the Global Warming Response Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, designed to work hand-in-hand to curb our dangerous overreliance on fossil fuels.

RGGI is a regional agreement among 10 northeast and mid-Atlantic states to implement a cap-and-trade program on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, essentially a major vehicle to achieve the goal of the Global Warming Response Act, which is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Through RGGI, energy companies in each state are capped at a certain allowable tonnage of carbon dioxide they can emit, which is broken down into units or credits. The states that implement efficiencies to lower their greenhouse gas emissions can sell their excess credits at periodic auctions where businesses in other states that have not reduced their emission levels can then purchase these credits. States then invest the proceeds from these auctions into consumer benefits, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy and other clean energy technologies.

According to a recent RGGI report, pollution is down 15 to 30 percent since its launch, almost 18,000 jobs have been created and the region’s economy has grown by more than $2.3 billion. Weatherization and retrofitting programs funded by RGGI proceeds also have helped consumers realize energy bill savings of 15 to 30 percent.

In New Jersey, just the first dozen projects funded through the program will help reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 84,000 metric tons each year and help businesses generate more than 167,000 megawatt hours of clean energy per year-- enough to meet the equivalent annual electricity needs of more than 19,600 typical Garden State households.

The funds RGGI generates for New Jersey are used to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors; to assist limited-income households with their electric bills; to help local governments reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and to invest in protecting and restoring our forestry and tidal marshes.

This cooperative initiative is a step in the right direction toward stemming climate change by encouraging lower carbon dioxide emissions and alternative energy use. Weaning ourselves off of our fossil fuel dependency will ultimately help ease the acceleration of climate change.

Despite the fact that the program has spurred the development of green jobs, reduced pollution and been championed by environmentalists and businesses alike, Christie’s proposed budget confiscates the entire $65 million allocation for this program and he has announced New Jersey’s withdrawal from RGGI altogether.

At this crucial juncture, we cannot afford to make short-sighted decisions. Congress is dragging its heels on this issue. States must take the initiative now.

The time to create a more sustainable future is now. Everyone should join us in calling on the governor to remain committed to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

After a meeting with the Koch brothers, Christie took New Jersey out of the regional program and continued bloviating to the voters-- in this instance, in Toms River-- that he doubted human activity has any relation to climate change. "I think we're going to need more science to prove something one way or the other," the exact talking point Big Oil asks Republicans to use. So let's hope that the New Jersey Environmental Federation doesn't make the same mistake this year that they made in 2009, when he beame the first Republican gubernatorial candidate they had ever endorsed. He snowed them and they fell for it. Now they're disappointed, of course. "He has not kept his promise," Ben Forest, a member of the federation board, said recently.

Since taking office, Christie has taken more than $800 million from three funds dedicated to promote clean energy initiatives like solar and wind power and used the money to plug state budget gaps. Most of it has come from the Clean Energy Fund.

Another $194 million-- more than half of the Clean Energy Fund’s anticipated revenue-- would be siphoned under Christie’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

In addition, Christie has scooped up money from other environmental funds other governors never touched before-- including one that provides grants to towns and encourages recycling and another that pays for damages caused by operating or closing landfills.

...State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), Christie’s likely Democratic challenger in November, accused the governor of forsaking the environment for other priorities. "It’s going to take a long time to undo the damage he’s done," Buono said in a recent interview.

The energy fund is meant to pay for such items as grants for home and business owners who are seeking to increase energy efficiency and cut costs. But the money being diverted is instead going toward fuel and utility costs for NJ Transit and state facilities.

Democrats and environmentalists are calling the diversions a tax.

"The voters and the citizens understood it was to be used for clean energy services," state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) said. "None of that money’s gone to that purpose. It’s all been used to cover his budgetary holes. Moral of the story is, it’s a tax ... He says, ‘I haven’t done any new taxes.’ Wrong."