Solar Installations, Jobs, soar in New Jersey. GOP Rushes to Stop Progress. April 12, 2011



New Energy News reports:

“…Solar Rainbow Services, a leader in the design and installation of large-scale solar electric systems for commercial customers of all sizes, announced the acquisition of a stake in More Core Commercial Roofing, a commercial roofing company…

“A rooftop solar installation has a lifespan of 25-years…[T]o take advantage of the full life of the system, the roof must also last 25-years…[and] repairs to solar integrated rooftops are very expensive as the solar panels must be relocated to service the roof.”

“The roofing business has skyrocketed in New Jersey due to the increase in solar photovoltaic energy systems being installed…New Jersey has the most aggressive solar renewable energy certificates (SREC’s) based incentive programs in the Northeast which has led to over 8,500 solar installations. Additionally, the New Jersey Master Plan has set the goal of generating 20% electricity renewable sources by 2020.

Sensing the threat that New Energy will continue to create thousands of jobs and pull New Jersey away from 19th century technologies, Republican Governor Chris Christie is moving quickly to announce a withdrawal from a regional carbon trading program that is a major driver of new technology.

According to SolveClimate:

“Observers say the move is expected in response to pressure from GOP legislators and campaigns mounted by groups funded by billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch.

The anticipated policy reversal is in step with recent actions in Maine and New Hampshire, where Republican-dominated legislatures are trying to repeal their states’ participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon market between 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and the first mandatory emissions trading plan in the country.”

Like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Koch funded Chris Christie has been directed to place as many roadblocks in front of new energy development as possible, and is on a seek and destroy mission against budding industries of the future, which might employ hundreds of thousands of “union thugs”.

Maintaining the cash flow for a dying industry that has been sucking the lifeblood out of Americans for the last 40 years has become the main preoccupation of the republican party, and a primary source of fundraising.