 |
| Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean |
Former Republican Gov. Thomas Kean told an audience at a Rutgers University conference yesterday that he thought it was “a shame” that fellow Republican Gov. Chris Christie pulled New Jersey out of the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative. [The right and left debate RGGI in New Jersey].
From today’s NJ Spotlight‘s report on the climate-change conference:
Former Republican Gov. Thomas Kean is such a believer in climate change
that he is calling on informed citizens to “confront those who don’t
believe in the science of it for the ignorant people that they are.”
 |
| New Jersey Governor Chris Christie |
Speaking before a Rutgers University conference in New Brunswick
Tuesday, Kean criticized fellow Republican Gov. Chris Christie, saying
it was a “shame” that he pulled New Jersey out of the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Christie’s decision to pull out of RGGI was highly controversial and
was especially disappointing to its backers, who hoped the regional
initiative would serve as a successful prototype for a national effort
to combat global climate change.
His decision also has been criticized
by Democrats in the legislature who have sought to enact bills to
maintain New Jersey’s participation in the program, most often without
any Republican backing.When Christie announced his decision to withdraw from the program
this past summer, he conceded manmade activities were contributing to
global warming, but dismissed the regional initiative as ineffective and
merely a tax on consumers.Former Gov. James Florio, however, said “we ought to be asking what it’s going to cost if we don’t do something.”
The state’s liberal political blog, Blue Jersey, which rarely misses an opportunity to criticize Mr. Christie, offered this perspective:
It is a sad measure of the lack of influence of Gov. Kean, a hugely
popular figure in New Jersey politics, on today’s Republican Party that
not one of the over 40 Republicans in the Legislature – who are led, in
part, by his son – will stand up to Christie the way that Kean did
yesterday.As the event pointed out, it is ultimately our farmers, shore
communities, and tourism industry that will pay the price of state and
national inaction on climate change.
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