Job-Killing Cap-and-Trade Schemes

Americans for Prosperity: Environment New Jersey Spews More RGGI Lies into Atmosphere

Another Bogus “Study” Belies the Facts about Job-Killing Cap-and-Trade Scheme

BOGOTA, NJ – Americans for Prosperity, the state’s leading grassroots, free-market organization, is blasting the radical environmental group Environment New Jersey for blatant lies and misleading statements about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Cap-and-Trade scheme.

In response, AFP state director Steve Lonegan issued the following statement:

“The eco-zealots at Environment New Jersey continue to repeat a number of debunked claims about the failed RGGI scheme, including the absurd notion that this hidden tax on electricity somehow fuels economic growth.

“Given that RGGI’s emissions targets have already been met, one can only conclude that the only ‘green’ the radical environmentalists at Environment New Jersey care about is the green in our wallets and pocketbooks.

“Environment New Jersey’s real desire is to keep in place a slush fund that will use ratepayer dollars to fund their pet projects and other ‘green’ rip-offs in order to keep alive their utopian environmental dreams. Meanwhile the rest of us are left to suffer the consequences in the way of lost jobs and by being socked with higher rates.

“No amount of bogus studies they foist upon is will alter this reality.” ENVIRONMENT NJ CLAIM:

“According to ‘A Record of Leadership: How Northeastern States are Cutting Global Warming Pollution and Building a Clean Economy,’

New Jersey and the 9 other states that participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) have cut per capita carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent faster than the rest of the nation, even as the region’s gross product per capita grew 87 percent faster than the rest of the United States.”

FACT: According to RGGI’s own consultants, the cap-and-trade program is unlikely to have any impact on reducing carbon emissions until the Year 2030 (Source: New Jersey Watchdog)

FACT: Falling natural gas prices and reduced demand have been the primary factors in reduced carbon emissions; not RGGI (Source: New Jersey Watchdog)

FACT: There is no proof that RGGI has created net jobs or increased economic growth; such claims are based on a ‘hypothetical simulation’ and “modeling’ forecast with no basis in reality (Source: Institute for Energy Research)

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity.

Senator Stabenow Porker of the Month

Washington, D.C.) – Today, in recognition of the potfuls of taxpayer gold that have been squandered on subsidizing ill-advised green energy programs, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) its March 2012 Porker of the Month.

Sen. Stabenow was chosen for submitting amendment #1812 to S. 1813, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, which would have extended federal subsidies for green energy, including alternative fueling stations, biofuels, refined coal, energy-efficient appliances, and wind power, among others. Many of the initiatives singled out for continued subsidies in Sen. Stabenow’s amendment, such as the Treasury Department’s 1603 grants, the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit, and the tax credit for Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling, were expanded or begun as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus).

Fortunately, the amendment was defeated on March 13 when it garnered just 49 votes in its favor, 11 short of the 60 it required. Taxpayers need look no further than Advanced Ethanol Council Executive Director Brooke Coleman’s reaction to the amendment’s failure to know that it was a win for their wallets; he claimed that lawmakers “missed an opportunity” by failing to extend the Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit, which eases the way for America’s expensive ethanol program.

Sen. Stabenow’s amendment exemplifies the public policy fallacy gripping the Obama administration and many lawmakers, which holds that the key to unlocking a green energy surge is simply more taxpayer money. But as Washington Post columnist Charles Lane put it in his March 5, 2012 column, “Advocates insist that the government should help them crank up mass production of electric vehicles. Once economies of scale kick in, they argue, electric vehicles can compete…Four decades after the 1973 oil crisis, this logic is wearing thin. Any company that figured out how to build a practical mass-market electric car would be swimming in cash. That no one has done so suggests we are bumping up against the limits of nature, not just politics or economics.”

“When the stimulus originally passed, one of the biggest concerns, beyond its exorbitant initial cost, was that supposedly temporary programs would become permanent and waste taxpayer dollars in perpetuity,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Sen. Stabenow has demonstrated that those fears were not unfounded. The past six months have been marred by examples of the futility of picking winners in energy markets, which already have access to private capital. Failures at Solyndra, Ener1, Beacon, Tesla, Amonix, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, SunPower, and others make it obvious that the government has about as much chance of stumbling across a four-leaf clover as it does of being successful as a venture capitalist,” added Schatz. “Not only should these programs not be extended, they should be terminated.”

For attempting to compound the federal government’s costly foray into green energy investment, and doing her best to bury taxpayer greenbacks at the end of the rainbow, Senator Debbie Stabenow is CAGW’s March 2012 Porker of the Month.

CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.