Americans for Prosperity has been critical of Governor Christie for promulgating the state’s Cap & Trade program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI, a Cap & Trade program enjoined by 10 Northeastern states, has generated $65M in revenue through the sale of carbon permits since auctions started in 2008.

According to the DEP website, an auction held past December yielded over $60M, bringing the overall total to $494.4M. The most recent auction took place in June, the seventh to date.

Governor Christie’s FY 2011 budget, passed last week, is raiding $65M from RGGI to use for general revenue.

Now, we learn that the Governor is also raiding other energy funds to use for general revenue. According to a story yesterday on Philly.com, $128M was diverted from the Retail Margin Fund last year and Governor Christie’s FY 2011 budget will pilfer another $14M. The fund is supposed to be used “to lower New Jersey residents' utility bills by reducing demand from the biggest users of the electric grid” with revenue generated from “a fee assessed on major commercial and industrial users.”

The state raided $128 million from the Retail Margin Fund, which is generated by fees from commercial and industrial users, in the fiscal year that ended June 30, and will take $14 million under the $29.4 billion budget signed into law last week.

A total of $250M has been diverted from the Clean Energy Fund, including $30M in Governor Corzine’s FY 2010 budget and another $158M in Governor Christie’s FY 2011 budget.

Revelations that the administration of Gov. Jon S. Corzine rerouted $30 million from the fund in 2009 drew outrage from several South Jersey lawmakers. Assemblymen Vincent Polistina and John Amodeo, Republicans from Atlantic County, lambasted the move as "Exhibit A of budget-balancing gimmicks." Sen. Diane Allen (R., Burlington) called for an end to the practice.

But those same lawmakers closed out fiscal 2010 by voting to authorize a $158 million diversion from the fund, and an additional $10 million this fiscal year.

While some might take solace that the above-mentioned funds are not being used for “green” projects as required by law -- and it certainly has and will draw the ire of the AGW crowd on the left -- this is wholly misguided thinking.

Regardless of how the money is used, the Cap & Trade program and other fees intended for other “green” purposes still remain in place – and that means that businesses and consumers are still looking at a big tax on energy that will cause higher energy bills and cost jobs. And once politicians begin to see this as a viable revenue stream it will become increasingly harder to eliminate.

Further, this shows just how disingenuous politicians on both sides of the aisle are when it comes to global warming as they are simply exploiting the issue to generate another revenue stream to fund big government.

Instead of raiding the RGGI funds, Governor Christie ought to be striving to defund and ultimately end New Jersey’s participation in this Cap & Trade program. If he is the tax cutting, conservative Governor many purport him to be then it should be an easy decision for him to make.