Shore Senators Urged to Support RGGI

Governor Chris Christie's decision to pull New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative prompts Environment New Jersey members to deliver over 1000 protest petitions and handwritten letters to shore State Senators Robert Singer, Jim Holzapfel and Jennifer Beck, urging their support.

Field Organizer Dan DeRosa says they chose these Senators because they were not supporters of RGGI in the past. "Since the Governor made his announcement to pull the state out of the program these Senators as well as the Assembly men and women in these districts have not taken a position on RGGI in support of it."

Derosa says Christie's decision to pull New Jersey out of RGGI last year lets polluters off the hook. He says "RGGI is a program that put a cap on power plant pollution and was making polluters pay for dirtying the air." Proponents also says His decision will cost the state as much as $50-million dollars in clean energy financing and jobs.

In making his decision, the Governor called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative "gimmicky" and "ineffective" in reducing greenhouse gases.