It's official: NJ Gov. Chris Christie pulls out of 10-state greenhouse gas initiative

Previewed at the Tatler this morning, now a reality in Trenton:

In a blow to clean energy advocates throughout the Northeast, Gov. Chris Christie said this morning that he will no longer participate in the region’s cap-and-trade program.

“This program is not effective in reducing greenhouse gases and is unlikely to be in the future,” Christie said at a press conference in the Statehouse.

The goal of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, called RGGI is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across 10 Northeast and mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Maryland by 10 percent in the next seven years.

It’s the first cap-and-trade program of its kind in the United States.