By Ray Cantor

The so-called Climate Superfund Act, which should probably be better known as the Climate Money Grab Act, seeks to retroactively penalize fossil fuel companies in New Jersey tens of billions of dollars for their relatively minimal role in global carbon emissions.

And as a legislative effort, we find it tone deaf to the deep energy affordability challenges we face in New Jersey.

We at New Jersey Business & Industry Association hate to break it to the advocates: Beyond the fact that it is fundamentally unfair and likely unconstitutional to impose retroactive assessments against companies that have provided a legal product that has been essential to our survival and prosperity, the world still needs fossil fuels for decades to come.

Fossil fuels are, in fact, still part of New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan. They are needed for everyday life. Their usage has actually helped expand lifespans over the decades. And we would not have to go too far to show how even supporters of such folly as this bill have used fossil fuels and continue to use them directly or indirectly to this day.

Furthermore, the bill would only impose these charges against companies that refined or extracted fossil fuels – ones which have provided billions to the national and state economy and supported tens of thousands of jobs – but not on the consumers and businesses who actually use these products and create the emissions.

Amazingly, supporters of this legislation appear to have convinced themselves that illegally socking energy companies with billions of dollars in unfounded assessments, not to mention the millions they’ll potentially spend to fight the unfairness in the courts, will somehow not raise gas or energy prices in the state.

Well, at least that’s what they’re saying publicly to garner support.

But here’s the reality: Businesses don’t just swallow billions of dollars in added costs, particularly ones they have no control over. There are margins they expect to make to keep people employed and consequences when they’re not met.

This will prove even truer if companies know that this assessment can be imposed against them again in the future.

In applying a $40 billion penalty number loosely thrown out by one of bill’s sponsors earlier this year to a cost analysis performed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Legal Reform, the additional cost to New Jersey consumers, per household, would be estimated at:

Transportation: $573 annually over nine yearsUtilities: $191 annually over nine yearsOther cost impacts: $253 annually over nine years

In total, this bill could cost each household more than $9,000 in ADDITIONAL energy costs, which will add on to New Jersey’s well-established affordability crisis.

Further, attempting to hold businesses liable for activities that were not only legal, necessary for society and even encouraged by the government, sends a disturbing message to New Jersey’s business community that no company is safe. It is effectively telling every job creator: Follow every applicable law here, and you’re still doing business at your own legal risk.

If all that wasn’t enough, the bill would do nothing to impact climate change. New Jersey contributes just 1.7% of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions and only 0.3% of worldwide GHG emissions. Yet, this bill would impose these assessments based on worldwide emissions, despite the minor contributions coming from New Jersey.

We strongly encourage Trenton lawmakers to consider the affordability realities in New Jersey and not submit to the ideological agenda of the environmental advocates who appear not to care about the economic struggles of the average New Jersey resident.

Calling your elected representative in the state Assembly or Senate is the most effective way to influence policy. To find your state Assemblymember and Senator to voice your position, go to the New Jersey Legislature website’s Legislative Roster.

Ray Cantor is the deputy chief Government Affairs officer at the New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

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