It’s not news to anyone who checks in with MTR regularly that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie doesn’t have the strongest record on transportation. He cancelled the Access to the Region’s Core project, presided over two NJ Transit fare increases, failed to make good on a promise to fund transportation with more cash and less debt, and has shown no sense of urgency around the state’s bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund. And of course there was that thing with the bridge.

But we’re not here to talk about that. Today — Earth Day — we shall instead shed some light on Governor Christie’s environmental record.

In December of 2015, the New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities approved a controversial natural gas pipeline through the South Jersey Pinelands. The approval came despite years of opposition from the environmental community and amid criticism that the BPU gave the pipeline the go-ahead without a proper review process. A similar plan had been voted down by the BPU in January of 2014, but Governor Christie “appointed new members to the board who were believed to be favorably disposed to the pipeline” so that wouldn’t happen again.

Also in 2015, the governor signed into law a bill that merged the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. This merger weakened an otherwise strong program that promoted “economic prosperity and environmental restoration” of the Meadowlands area according to the Regional Plan Association, as the new entity does not absorb the governance, mission or programs of the (now former) Meadowlands Commission.

Perhaps the governor’s most publicized environmental faux pas was the settlement of a 10-year long legal battle with Exxon Mobil. In the original lawsuit, the state asserted $8.9 billion in damages for the contamination of more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes, meadows and waters surrounding two refineries in northern New Jersey. But Governor Christie settled for a mere $255 million — hardly a slap on the wrist for a company worth over $360 billion.

Governor Christie’s decision-making seem a bit more logical if you understand his thoughts on climate change. We know the governor doesn’t think the state’s transportation funding situation isn’t a crisis. But the governor, whose state was decimated by Superstorm Sandy three years earlier, said last fall that he doesn’t think climate change is a crisis either. NJ Advance Media reports:

“We cannot say that our activity doesn’t contribute to changing the climate,” Christie said. “What I am saying is that it’s not a crisis. The climate’s been changing forever … I just don’t buy that. I just don’t buy the fact that it’s a ‘crisis,’ I just don’t.”

Pressed to answer why, Christie again answered, “Because I don’t believe it is. I just don’t see that there’s any evidence that it’s a crisis.”

Happy Earth Day, everybody.