The entire business (and I use the term “business” advisedly) of “global warming” makes my hair hurt. I suppose you can classify me as one of the “Deniers”.

Perhaps the planet is warming ever so slightly (as of this writing) but it has been warming and cooling in cycles for, oh, about a gazillion years. I also think it is far from clear that human activity has much, if anything, to do with this cycle of heating and cooling, notwithstanding what Al “No Controlling Legal Authority” Gore, the inventor of the internet, has to say on the matter. In addition, I am not persuaded by the pronouncements of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (a political, not a scientific body — of the U.N., no less) urging that human activity is “very likely” the source of “global warming”.

So, imagine how pleased I was to see that Governor Corzine will issue an Executive Order that contains long-term “global warming” goals matched only by those in California. Dude! Global warming – like sooooo not cool.

The state legislature will have to pass a statute in order to implement the goals that are contained in the Executive Order. No problemo, that. Democrats Linda Stender and Barbara Buono are ready to hold hearings on New Jersey’s “Global Warming Response Act”. According to the Star Ledger, The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection “will develop plans for meeting the goals in conjunction with the Department of Transportation, Board of Public Utilities [and] Department of Community Affairs …”

The prospect of four state agencies given the task of writing new regulations is downright frightening. Regulators just love to write regulations – lots of them. More regulations mean more bureaucracy, which in New Jersey means … yes, more taxes. Count on it.

If this continues, one day the only business left in New Jersey will be state government, and the only people left in the state will be state government employees. They can amuse themselves by regulating hell out of one another.

One has to wonder whether this decision to unleash the fury of four state regulatory agencies on the citizens of the Garden State was the net result of careful analysis of a complex issue, or whether it was a politically correct, feel-good maneuver designed to appeal to the folks who put Mr. Corzine into office. According to the Star Ledger, an unnamed Corzine staffer stated, “In the absence of leadership from the Bush administration, state action to address this global challenge is that much more important.”

Well, there you go.