Americans for Prosperity held a rally and press conference yesterday in Atalantic City to protest the RGGI Cap & Trade program. the rally highlighted the negative impact Cap & Trade poses to Atlantic City's economy and its struggling casino and tourism industry, as well to oppose the governor's plans to use RGGI funds for an offshore windmill project.

Click here to see NBC 40's news report on our rally.

Here is a press report from the Press of Atlantic City.

And here are a few pictures from the scene at the ACUA Wastewater Treatment Facility site.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Below is our press release from the event.

Americans for Prosperity Leads Protest of RGGI Cap-and-Trade Program In Atlantic City

Citizen Activists Call for End to Cap-and-Trade Scheme That Will Devastate Atlantic City’s Economy

DATELINE: ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Dozens of Americans for Prosperity activists and citizens from the Atlantic City area joined forces yesterday at a rally and press conference near the Atlantic City Utility Authority to demand the end to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Cap-and-Trade program.

Cap-and-trade opponents say that RGGI could push Atlantic City’s teetering economy over the edge and decimate the struggling casino and tourism industry through higher energy costs.

AFP state director Steve Lonegan lambasted the cap-and-trade program which is run in a clandestine, sketchy manner out of the view of the public.

“This [cap-and-trade program] is being rolled out through a series of clandestine and top secret auctions. Next Wednesday, September 8th, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will conduct another auction of carbon permits. This auction will be held in a secret Internet auction in which the public has no scrutiny and no knowledge of who and how these so-called carbon permits are being bought – who is owning them, who is controlling them.”

“Here’s the dirty little secret. Now selling at $1.80 a share, they [the allowances] are projected to be $20-$100 under federal bill. The political insiders who are buying these permits will make an enormous amount of money passed on to the ratepayers of Atlantic City and New Jersey.”

“And worse, money [from cap-and-trade is] being used to fund this harebrained scheme of offshore windmills; windmills that are destined to fail. New Jersey ratepayers and taxpayers cannot afford this cost being passed along to them when somebody, somewhere in that auction is going to make millions and millions of dollars at out expense.”

Lonegan also called on citizens to tell Assemblymen Amodeo and Polistina, as well as Senator Jim Whelan, to join the effort and support the repeal bill.

Dennis Mahon, a local businessman, said “If electric bills go up 90%, the message [to me] is ‘why should I stay here? We can’t afford this. This is hidden tax we are all paying for. This must stop.”

Another citizen activist, Nate Nathanson of Northfield, stated, “The politicians don’t seem to understand that the little guy is broke. He has been ‘utilitied’ to death. He’s being taxed to death and we have local politicians who are supporting it. We want those politicians to support A3147 -- to support this act -- because we’re broke and we’re tired of getting hosed.”

Seth Grossman, WVLT radio host and founder of the local conservative group Liberty & Prosperity, also called for the end of RGGI.

“What happened last week was an absolute disgrace. A Republican governor, Chris Christie, signed a bill that will double electric bills to [by funding] windmills offshore 20 miles at sea. Every single engineer -- even the most ardent environmental activist -- has to admit that these windmills [behind us] that cost $1.2 million and are so inefficient...the cost of putting them 20 miles at sea will be astronomical. It’s just bad science.”

“[Recently], the Borgata announced publicly that a major reason for their decline in profits was higher electricity bills,” said Grossman. “We are putting New Jersey out of business.”

Lonegan closed by calling on the governor to end the RGGI program.

“There is one man in the ten states who can pull the plug on this and be the conservative leader we’re told he is – that’s Governor Chris Christie.

“I expect him to repeal cap-and-trade. I’m not just hoping for it. So here’s a message to Chris Christie: ‘Stop cap-and-trade today!’”

For more information on the RGGI cap-and-trade program, please visit www.NoNJCapAndTrade.com.