Your endorsement of Chris Christie for President, (“A president from New Jersey?” July 8–14) fails to mention a single accomplishment by the governor. Here are a few:
On May 26, 2011, Governor Christie abruptly pulled New Jersey out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, (RGGI) a ten-state carbon trading system. Between 2008 and 2012 RGGI generated more than $700 million for participating states, and it decreased carbon emissions by 45 percent.
In 2004, New Jersey brought suit against ExxonMobil seeking $8.9 billion for contaminating more than 1,500 acres of waterfront and meadows, 18 industrial sites and more than 800 gas stations. In April of 2015, Governor Christie settled the lawsuit for $225 million, just 3 percent of the original estimate.
In 2012 the New Jersey Legislature passed A575, a bipartisan bill that banned the importation of all hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) waste from other states. Governor Christie said he vetoed the bill because it would violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
That same year, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill, signed into law by Governor Peter Shumlin, which banned both fracking and fracking waste disposal. That law has not been challenged as unconstitutional by any other state, by the fracking industry or by the federal government.
The citizens of New Jersey have the same right to clean air, water and soil as Vermonters, but our combative, “Jersey Strong” governor is unwilling to protect us or our environment from fracking waste. As long as his veto stands, no court will rule on whether such a hypothetical ban would be unconstitutional.
These “accomplishments” show that Governor Christie is in the pocket of the oil and gas industry; therefore he can’t be a stand-up guy for the people.
James Mullin
