RGGI Participation in New Jersey

By executive order, New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy announced that New Jersey would once again be a partner in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a power plant emissions cap-and-trade program involving a group of states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

New Jersey had been an original member of the RGGI, but it pulled out of the program in 2011 upon orders from then-governor Chris Christie. According to a statement released by Governor Murphy, in the years since the state’s withdrawal from the RGGI, New Jersey has endured the ravages of Super Storm Sandy and has forgone hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon trading revenue, which he said could have been used to advance various renewable energy, energy-efficiency, and air quality improvement projects.

The current governor warned that New Jersey will fall further and further behind in addressing the effects of climate change if it does not rejoin the RGGI. In his executive order, the governor noted that in light of New Jersey’s geography and location as a coastal state, and given that its population density is greater than that of any other state, it is imperative as a matter of public health and safety that carbon emissions be mitigated as much as possible. Governor Murphy said that he was mandating that New Jersey reenter the RGGI as a means of “correct[ing] past missteps” and “realign[ing] the State’s priorities with those based on sound science.”

He therefore directed the Board of Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection to implement all requisite regulatory and administrative measures necessary to ensure that New Jersey returns to full participation in the RGGI as soon as practicable. (Executive Order #7)