TRENTON — In case anyone had any doubts on where Gov. Chris Christie stands on climate change, he made his position crystal clear this afternoon: It's real and it's a problem.



In vetoing a bill (S2946) that would have required New Jersey to stay in a regional program intended to curb greenhouse gases — a program Christie plans to leave by the end of the year — the governor said "climate change is real."



He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" and that climate change is "impacting our state."



Christie's words are his strongest to date in regards to climate change, a hot-button issue among the same conservatives nationwide who are clamoring for the governor to enter the 2012 presidential race.



Christie's come full circle on the issue. Last year, he told a town hall audience in Toms River he was skeptical climate change is the result of human activity. He backed off those comments at a conference of environmentalists in May and agreed to meet with climate scientists for a lesson in global warming.



Later that month, during a news conference announcing he would pull the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state partnership intended to curb power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, Christie took another step.



"I can't claim to fully understand all of this," he said. "Certainly not after just a few months of study. But when you have over 90 percent of the world's scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role it's time to defer to the experts."



He added that climate science is complex and "we know enough to know that we are at least part of the problem."

Previous coverage

:

• Gov. Chris Christie hits the beach in Belmar, touts environmental record

• Gov. Christie announces N.J. pulling out of regional environmental initiative

• Gov. Christie declares regional cap-and-trade initiative ineffective, 'gimmicky' partnership

• Rutgers scientists invite Gov. Christie to global warming forum