“RGGI does nothing more than tax electricity, tax our citizens, tax our businesses with no discernible or measurable impact upon our environment,” Christie said in the speech speciously titled “New Jersey’s Future Is Green.”

Months later, he vetoed a bill passed by the Democratic majority in the state legislature to rejoin RGGI. The next year, he rejected similar legislation. Last month, he struck down yet another bill, declaring , “The third time will not be the charm.”

“It was … the most significant policy decision,” Matt Katz, author of the 2016 biography American Governor: Chris Christie’s Bridge to Redemption, told HuffPost. “His pro-environment promises to move toward solar and wind energy sources could’ve been a part of his legacy, but they turned out to be mostly empty efforts.”

“His pro-environment promises to move toward solar and wind energy sources could’ve been a part of his legacy, but they turned out to be mostly empty efforts.”

It’s a legacy that strikingly mirrors that of President Donald Trump, who made eliminating environmental regulations a top priority, aggressively courted fossil fuel interests, and withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord just five months after taking office. The White House’s decision to drop out of the agreement to lower carbon emissions, signed by every country except Syria and Nicaragua, drew similar condemnation, particularly for seeming to lack logic beyond shoring up support from his base in anticipation of the next election.

Christie’s positioning on climate change has been a break from his predecessors in New Jersey, nearly all of whom have made conservation a key concern. Gov. Brendan Byrne (D) preserved the Pine Barrens in the 1970s. Gov. Tom Kean (R) increased protections for wetlands with a 1984 executive order and started a climate change task force. Gov. James Florio (D) set aside the Highlands, a geological formation running along the Delaware River, in the early 1990s. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) drastically improved ozone levels, reduced beach closings to a record low and later went on to lead the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush. Gov. James McGreevey (D) expanded wetlands protections by nearly 400,000 acres in 2004. Under Gov. Richard Codey (D), New Jersey became a founding member of RGGI in 2005. Two years later, Gov. Jon Corzine (D) beefed up “stream encroachment” rules to keep development away from areas at high risk of flooding.

“Christie’s legacy will be trying to roll back every other governor’s environmental legacy,” Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, told HuffPost. “He’s been the most anti-environmental governor this state has ever seen.”

A spokesman for Christie declined to comment, but referred HuffPost to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The agency in turn referred HuffPost to Christie’s May 2011 speech.

“At the end of the day, RGGI allowance costs are passed along to New Jersey ratepayers,” Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the agency, wrote in a follow-up email to HuffPost. “We also estimate for every dollar we invest in RGGI, our ratepayers would only get about 50 cents in return.”

Most politics watchers in New Jersey think it’s no coincidence that Christie pulled out of RGGI three months after meeting with fossil fuel tycoon David Koch in New York, one month before headlining the Koch brothers’ conference in Colorado and nearly a year ahead of the 2012 election. His initial meeting took place in secret, and the press was never notified that he was out of state. Audio obtained by Mother Jones revealed that Koch praised Christie for pulling out of RGGI. “Already at this point Christie was plotting a future presidential run, and to do so in the Republican field at that moment in history he needed a conservative environmental win…He threaded that needle.”

“Already at this point Christie was plotting a future presidential run, and to do so in the Republican field at that moment in history he needed a conservative environmental win,” Katz said. “He threaded that needle, preserving his chances for re-election in a blue state by claiming his pullout wasn’t about climate change.”