A three-year summary of America’s first carbon trading program was released yesterday. The news is pretty good for anyone who cares about reducing carbon emissions; it’s inconvenient for anyone hell-bent on preventing America from implementing a carbon pricing plan.

According to the program administrator of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a nine-state cap-and-trade market established in the Northeast in 2008 — average annual CO2 emissions have fallen by 23 percent compared to emission levels before the start of the program:

Average annual CO2 emissions for the three-year period were 126 million short tons, a 23 percent reduction when compared to the preceding three-year period, 2006-2008. Three-year average electricity consumption across the ten-state region declined only moderately, by 2.4 percent, between the same periods, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

CO2 emissions were collectively reduced to 33 percent below the annual pollution cap of 188 million short tons.

And the predictions of economic collapse and suffering ratepayers? Not happening.

The progress report follows a study from the Analysis Group finding that RGGI added $1.6 billion in value to the economies of participating states, setting up ratepayers for more than $1.1 billion in savings through improved efficiency and development of renewable energy. All this activity created 16,000 jobs in the first three years of the program.

“Five years ago, critics were saying climate programs like RGGI couldn’t succeed in the U.S.,” said David Littell, Commissioner of the Maine Public Utilities Commission and Vice-Chair of RGGI, in a statement.

“Now, we are seeing significant emissions reductions in the context of economic recovery as we switch to cleaner fuels and learn to use energy smarter. In fact, RGGI has allowed companies to stay competitive and reduce their energy expenditures to weather the recession and come out stronger.”

In April, Environment New Jersey issued an analysis showing that states participating in RGGI reduced emissions 20 percent faster and grew GDP twice the rate of the rest of the U.S. through 2009. However, that report was not a completely accurate picture of the impact of RGGI, as it only took into consideration the first year of the program.

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Northeastern states participating in America’s first carbon cap and trade program have outperformed the rest of the country in GDP growth and reduction in global warming pollution.

That’s according to a new report from Environment New Jersey, which examined emissions data and economic growth indicators from 2000 to 2009.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a nine-state cap-and-trade market designed to reduce emissions in the utility sector 10% by 2018. A recent independent analysis showed that the program has already created $1.6 billion in economic value and set the stage for $1.1 billion in ratepayer savings through investments in efficiency and renewable energy.

This latest report shows that states under the RGGI program saw a 20% greater reduction in per-capita carbon emissions than non-RGGI states — all while growing per-capita GDP at double the rate of the rest of the country.

It is, however, very difficult to pinpoint the exact impact that RGGI had on these emissions reductions. While the program has been in the works since the early 2000′s, it was only implemented in 2008. The combination of increased penetrations of natural gas and the economic downturn likely had the biggest roles to play in the emissions dip.

But some officials in the region believe that RGGI did play a part. InsideClimate News reported on reactions to the news:

“It’s very clear that emissions have decreased in the Northeast. I think it’s largely because of low natural gas prices, plus the effects of RGGI on top of that,” said Bob Teetz, vice president of environmental services at National Grid USA, a Waltham, Mass.-based electric and gas company. The utility operates 4,000 megawatts of natural gas power plants in Long Island, N.Y.

“All of these efforts are bearing fruit,” Ken Kimmell, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, told InsideClimate News. “We very much expect that that progress will continue,” as the economy gains strength, he said.

While we can’t say exactly what role RGGI played in these drops, we can make many other observations with certainty: The program has helped stimulate more efficiency and renewable energy, it has helped local businesses grow, it has added enormous economic value to the region, and it has not driven up electric rates.

Let’s compare real-world experience to the outlandish claims made by opponents of the program.

The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity actually claimed that RGGI would drive rates up in New Jersey by 90%. And New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pulled his state out of the program, calling it a “gimmicky tax.” According to program administrators, proceeds from carbon credit auctions brought $29 million to New Jersey in 2010, leveraging $3 to $4 in benefits for every dollar invested.

Opponents who claim cap and trade is bad for the economy simply don’t have a leg to stand on.

In late May, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced he was pulling his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, explaining that it was “not working.”  Now a stunning tape of a secret meeting between Christie and Charles Koch sheds light on the Governor’s inexplicable decision to abandon a program that was not only cutting pollution, but was funding clean energy and, as it turns out, reducing New Jersey’s budget gap.

David Koch, introducing Christie:  Five months ago we met in my New York City office and spoke — just the two of us — for about two hours on his objectives and successes in correcting many of the most serious problems of the New Jersey state government.  At the end of our conversation, I said to myself, “I’m really impressed and inspired by this man. He is my kind of guy.”

Koch is the biggest funder of climate disinformation in the country, a billionaire pollutocrat who pulls the string of the Tea Party, which in turn is driving the country to a ruined economy and an unlivable climate.  And Christie is his kind of guy.  You can see why they wanted to keep this behind closed doors.

Koch has more to say on his budding bromance:

Another example of Governor Christie’s commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative which is a [cheers and applause], which would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment. [A 'boo' is heard.]

Yes, Christie showed his “commitment to the free enterprise system” by pulling out of a market-based system invented by Republicans and economists, championed by President George H. W. Bush, and originally supported at a regional level by GOP Governors like Pataki of New York.

At the time of Christie’s move, people monitoring RGGI were baffled. The program had raised tens of millions of dollars for clean energy projects without noticeably raising rates. But after acknowledging that climate change was real and then raiding $65 million from the program in order to close a budget gap, Christie actually had the gall to say the program was “gimmicky.”

But now the reasons for Christie’s awkwardly hypocritical stance on RGGI are becoming more clear. Perhaps the program wasn’t “working” for the Koch Brothers, the oil billionaires who have spent of millions of dollars trying to tear down cap and trade and any other programs related to clean energy?

Here’s the audio tape of Koch introducing Christie:

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Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) vetoed legislation to preserve New Jersey’s participation in a regional climate program on Friday. As he vetoed the bill (S. 2946) which would have blocked his decision to pull out of the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Christie announced that he had been convinced by scientists that manmade climate change is a real threat. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that he said “climate change is real“:

He added that “human activity plays a role in these changes” and that climate change is “impacting our state.”

“I can’t claim to fully understand all of this,” he said. “Certainly not after just a few months of study. But when you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role it’s time to defer to the experts.”

He added that climate science is complex and “we know enough to know that we are at least part of the problem.”

Christie’s position on climate science is essentially the same as that of GOP presidential candidates and former governors Mitt Romney (“I believe that humans contribute“) and Jon Huntsman Jr. (“90 percent of the scientists say climate change is occurring”). All of these Republicans have supported regional cap-and-trade programs to reduce greenhouse pollution in the past, then flipped to opposing them with the rise of the Tea Party.

Christie is still not actually willing to accept the facts — virtually every major scientific body in the world says that the threat of man-made climate change is real and merits urgent action. Like Romney and Huntsman, his words put him at odds with the anti-science zeal of the Tea Party but his actions keep him perfectly aligned with their fossil-fuel paymasters.

Governors around the nation are fighting back against the Tea Party predations of the oil industry:

Gov. John Lynch (D-NH) vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have pulled his state out of the regional carbon-reduction program. RGGI has been under non-stop attacks funded by the Koch brothers, and in making the veto, Lynch rejected the false claims made by opponents and recognized those benefits for the state.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) on Thursday said “the state is pulling out of the unified command team overseeing the cleanup of oil from a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline that leaked an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River late last Friday. Schweitzer accused ExxonMobil officials of not being transparent about the extent of the oil spill and the resulting cleanup effort.”

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC) signed an executive order to create the Offshore Wind Economic Development Task Force, in conjunction with her veto of Senate Bill 709, which would have pushed the development of offshore oil and gas, as well as onshore gas fracking.

The nation desperately needs climate hawks like these fighting for a clean energy future, especially as hopes for a national mobilization on greenhouse pollution needed to stave off catastrophic climate change have dimmed.

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch vetoed a bill yesterday that would have pulled his state out of the regional carbon-reduction program.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a 10-state CO2 trading system in the Northeastern U.S. crafted in 2008 to reduce emissions 10% in the utility sector by 2018. The proceeds are designed to go back to ratepayers and businesses for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, which, according to the program administrator have brought $3 to $4 dollars for every $1 raised from carbon allowance auctions.

RGGI has been under non-stop attacks funded by the Koch brothers.  In making the veto, Lynch rejected the false claims made by opponents and recognized those benefits for the state:

The Democratic governor said in his veto message that ending the program would cost jobs, hinder the state’s economic recovery and damage New Hampshire’s long-term competiveness.

Lynch said an assessment by the University of New Hampshire found that RGGI’s cumulative impact through 2010 was a net benefit of over $16 million in revenue to New Hampshire.

The governor explained:

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To great fanfare, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) announced that New Jersey would be pulling out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the northeastern cap-and-trade system for reducing global warming pollution and increasing green investment. There was only one problem — Christie doesn’t actually have the unilateral authority to withdraw his state from the compact. He is attempting to overturn by fiat the clear language of legislation passed in 2007 mandating New Jersey’s involvement. Today, the New Jersey Senate moved legislation out of committee that would reaffirm the intent of the existing law Christie wants to overturn:

This Legislature declares that Governor Christie’s decision to withdraw New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), announced on May 26, 2011, is inconsistent with the intent of the Legislature as expressed in the “Global Warming Response Act,” P.L.2007, c.112 (C.26:2C-37 et al.), and P.L.2007, c.340 (C.26:2C-45 et al.), known as the “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative” or “RGGI” implementing law.

The legislation now goes to the full Senate for a vote. The sister bill in the lower house has also passed out of committee.

Policymakers and advocates in New Jersey are calling on Governor Chris Christie to return $65 million he diverted from a carbon-trading fund designed to help the state’s ratepayers reduce their energy bills. After announcing last Thursday that he was pulling his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), calling the program a “tax” and a “failure,” Christie has shown no intentions of giving back the tens of millions of dollars he took from the fund to help close a budget gap.

Last year, Governor Christie raided a RGGI fund set aside for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that brings back $3 to $4 in value to ratepayers for every $1 invested. Now, some members of the New Jersey assembly are calling on Christie to return those “taxes” to the businesses and homeowners who benefit from those investments.
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