AFP PRESS RELEASE - SEE BELOW FOR PICTURES OF TODAY'S PRESS CONFERENCE

For Immediate Release – May 9, 2011

DATELINE: BURLINGTON CITY, NJ – State Senator Diane Allen (R-Burlington, Camden) joined the growing ranks of Trenton legislators calling for the end of the economically destructive Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Cap & Trade energy tax.

In a joint press conference today with Americans for Prosperity state director Steve Lonegan and Senator Mike Doherty (R-Warren, Hunterdon), the senate bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Allen announced her co-sponsorship of the legislation that would extract New Jersey from the ten-state scheme.

Speaking outside her Burlington City district office in front of a group of RGGI Cap & Trade opponents, Sen. Allen laid out the outlined the reasons why she decided to co-sponsor the legislation and support pulling the plug on New Jersey’s participation in the RGGI Cap & Trade scheme:

“The real issue today is looking at all these empty storefronts down here on High Street in Burlington and wondering how much did the extra tax cause them to close; how much did this extra tax mean in determining if others didn’t fill in these buildings.

“And then we hear about Ocean Spray – and I just moments ago spoke to a former board member who said the RGGI tax is one of the largest reasons why Ocean Spray is leaving.”

Over the weekend, the Ocean Spray company announced that it would be closing its plant in Bordentown, NJ and relocating across the border in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, taking with it 250 jobs.

“We are in an economic downturn,” added Senator Allen. “We have such an issue in this state trying to pull ourselves out of the morass and, frankly, with these extra taxes businesses aren’t going to be staying here and certainly they aren’t going to be coming here.”

“To try and make New Jersey more business friendly, to try to get rid of as many of these unnecessary taxes as possible, we must absolutely get rid of RGGI...”

Senator Doherty thanked Senator Allen, saying that it was “a very, very significant fact that she signed up as a co-sponsor of this bill.”

Senator Doherty said New Jersey is suffering because of “excessive government, excessive regulation and excessive taxation” which RGGI is part and parcel:

“Businesses like Ocean Spray are saying, look, we’re going to go where we can compete, where we can get cheaper energy and that’s why it’s so important now with a very high unemployment rate in New Jersey that the economy still in the doldrums and this recession [ongoing] why we repeal RGGI; so that we send out a strong message across the country and across the region that New Jersey’s back open for business.”

“When you turn on your power switch to start your business in the morning, or turn on your light switch you shouldn’t have to pay an extra tax,” said Doherty.

AFP-NJ state director Steve Lonegan called Sen. Allen “a terrific leader in the Senate,” adding that he was “proud to have Sen. Allen on this bill.” Lonegan went on to denounce the RGGI Cap & Trade energy tax for contributing to New Jersey’s deteriorating economic business climate.

“This is a devious and deceptive new tax on ratepayers who are watching electricity rates go up every month because of this bogus plan. And it is a scheme. And we’re going to repeal that. We’re going to repeal the RGGI Cap & Trade tax and [if] we’re going to make New Jersey competitive again and bring jobs and economic growth back to this state, the first step is to repeal the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative secret Cap & Trade tax that was born of Enron, that is now in your electricity bill, [and] that is a key component in the decision-making of businesses like Ocean Spray and others when they determine to leave New Jersey or not come here in the first place.”

Americans for Prosperity’s campaign to kill the RGGI Cap & Trade program will continue throughout this week with press events scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 in Cape May with state Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-01) and Wednesday, May 11in Newton with members of the Sussex County Freeholder Board.

For more information on the RGGI Cap & Trade program, including an updated list of legislative co-sponsors, please visit www.NoNJCapAndTrade.com. Also, visit Americans for Prosperity’s website here.

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