With the cost of gasoline now averaging $4.32 per gallon, a  coalition of twelve New Jersey business groups and trade associations wants Congress to support American energy independence.

“ From tourism to the supply chain, the pain at the pump is being felt far and wide across New Jersey,” the organizations said in a letter to the New Jersey congressional delegation. “We must prioritize domestic energy production to keep costs low, our homes and businesses heated, and our economy running,”

The signatories represented the: Associated Builders and Contractors of New Jersey; Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey; Chemistry Council of New Jersey; Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey; Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey Garden State Initiative; Meadowlands Chamber;  New Jersey Apartment Association; New Jersey Bankers Association; New Jersey Business and Industry Association; New Jersey Chamber of Commerce; and the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, Automotive Association.

“We did not arrive here by accident.  For the past two years, officials in Washington have chilled energy production at home.” the organizations told the delegation.  “The result is what we see now—long lines at the gas station, families forced to spend beyond their means, and climbing energy prices.”

New Jersey, the groups say, is now feeling the consequences of the “now-overturned ban on the sales of federal oil and gas permits to delaying permits for net-zero emissions pipelines.”

“It is now time to work closely with industry, end the finger-pointing, and recognize that we cannot continue with similar decision-making that has discouraged domestic energy production over the past year and a half,” the delegation was told.