For the past year and a half the left has been moving relentlessly to pass a Cap & Trade bill on the federal level. And the Obama administration has continued its push by circumventing the legislative process and imposing heavy-handed regulations through the EPA, led by former head of the DEP in New Jersey Lisa Jackson.

The President, not wanting to let a “good crisis go to waste,” has used the tragic accident in the Gulf of Mexico to push for a moratorium on drilling and lay the groundwork for passing cap-and-trade legislation.

Yet, right under our noses in New Jersey, Cap & Trade has already become law and is in full effect. The Cap & Trade program is called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative among ten northeastern states.

RGGI became law in 2008 under then Governor Corzine. To date, seven auctions of carbon allowances have subsequently taken place. Over $662M has been generated by these auctions – cost that energy producers will pass along to consumers in the way of higher energy costs.

While RGGI couches itself in free market rhetoric, the reality is it will distort the market and result in significant harm to the economy of New Jersey and the nation.

What are those costs?

According to The Heritage Foundation, legislation being pushed in Congress – the Kerry-Lieberman bill in the Senate and the Waxman-Markey bill in the House — would have the following disastrous consequences for our economy:

* Trillions of dollars more government debt (after adjusting for inflation, Kerry–Boxer would add $2.7 trillion to the national debt by 2035—putting a family of four on the hook for an additional $27,000)
* Fewer jobs (employment under Kerry–Boxer would track 1.4 million jobs below business as usual, on average, for the years 2012–2035, and peak job losses would exceed 2.5 million)
* Higher energy prices (by 2035 Kerry–Boxer would add 45 percent to gasoline prices and 72 percent to electricity prices)
* Lower income (Kerry–Boxer would chop $9.9 trillion from GDP between 2012 and 2035—an average loss of over $4,500 per year per family of four).

Read the Americans for Prosperity fact sheet on Kerry-Lieberman here.

In New Jersey, the Waxman-Markey bill would mean an estimated 65,000 lost jobs. By 2020, New Jerseyans could expect gas prices to spike an astounding 58% and electricity rates to increase a staggering 90%.

That means if you fill up your car for $30 today, it would be over $47 in 2020. And if your utility bill currently averages $150 a month, in 2020 it would be $285 a month — or another $1620 a year!

That is money that could be saved for a new car, or a down payment on a new home, or on your child’s education.

All of this economic ruin while doing next to nothing to global temperatures.

Americans for Prosperity has been at the forefront of fighting Cap & Trade legislation. Like many Cap & Trade opponents, the focus to date has been on the federal level. But now we see the fight is also on the state level where regional Cap & Trade agreements stand to do as much damage as a federal bill.

To learn more about Cap & Trade, go to NoClimateTax.com.

And click here to sign the AFP petition to rescue New Jersey from cap-and-trade.