In an Op-Ed published by the USA TODAY/Gannett NJ Network this week, NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor said many New Jersey lawmakers deserve thanks for stalling the Climate Superfund Act before the summer recess and instead prioritizing affordability and jobs for Garden State residents and businesses.
Cantor wrote that the Climate Superfund/Polluters Pay Act was ultimately not posted for a vote in the full Senate and Assembly on June 30 because the support wasn’t there.
“(It) has been purported by its supporters as a funding mechanism for future climate resiliency projects,” Cantor said.
“But many see it for what it actually is: One of the most anti-business bills in state history, retroactively penalizing New Jersey energy manufacturers $50 billion for legally providing fossil fuels - an essential product used by all New Jerseyans, including supporters of the bill.
“The negative economic impact this bill would have on affordability and jobs in New Jersey cannot be understated,” Cantor continued.
“While supporters offer this bill as a free, $50 billion lunch to feed the state coffers, the facts are it would undeniably add to the gas and energy costs of all New Jersey residents and ratepayers during our energy affordability crisis.”
Supporters of the likely unconstitutional bill have maintained that the $50 billion retroactively assessed to New Jersey companies, should it become law and survive court battles, would not raise prices at the pump or energy rates for consumers.
Cantor, however, highlighted a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform study that found the average New Jersey household would end up paying an extra $14,000 over the 20-year life of the bill.
“But beyond that, supporters never acknowledged how the legislation was being pushed in 14 other states, thus adding to costs of energy manufacturers beyond New Jersey,” Cantor wrote.
“Nor did they ever mention what would happen when, not if, future penalties were assessed after the first $50 billion hit here in the Garden State.”
Cantor added that the Climate Superfund Act would impact jobs, many of them labor jobs, for a vital energy industry here in New Jersey.
“Sadly, one key sponsor celebrated the potential loss of those family-supporting jobs when he said during a committee vote: ‘Good, we don’t want those jobs.’ This is exactly the type of thinking that earned New Jersey a last place ranking for business friendliness by CNBC last month,” Cantor said.
Cantor said the legislators who don’t support the bill recognize the “future legal issues and massive costs to the state if the bill became law also deserve credit.
“Expensive court battles are already playing out in New York and Vermont, which both passed similar laws.”
Further, on July 31, a federal law cast serious legal doubt about New York’s case.
“Beyond the constitutional questions of due process and fairness, the Climate Superfund/Polluters Pay act squarely goes against the federal Clean Air Act,” Cantor said.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has already held that cases involving the regulation of interstate pollution arise only under federal law. States do not have the authority to regulate or impose liabilities to regulate out-of-state emissions.
“Given all that, litigation would take years to resolve, and many of our legislators were smart enough to ask: Why rush to enact a law that will likely be overturned by the courts?” Cantor said.
To read Cantor’s full Op-Ed, click here.
