UPDATE:  Following this New Jersey Watchdog report, RGGI publicly disclosed Jonathan Scharg’s pay in its 2009 Form 990 filing.  According to that disclosure, Schrag received $168,291 last year  ###

Jonathan Schrag is paid to keep secrets as executive director of the nation’s first mandatory CO-2 cap-and-trade program.

Jonathan Schrag

Those secrets include the salaries Schrag and his subordinates receive from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a non-profit corporation funded by 10 states, including New Jersey.  Schrag ignored a records request from New Jersey Watchdog – and RGGI avoided disclosing employee compensation in its most recent public disclosure required by the Internal Revenue Service. 

Schrag's $2.2 million, 2,000 sq. ft. loft...

Meanwhile, Schrag and his wife, Kirstin, are enjoying the $2.2 million, full-floor loft in Manhattan they purchased in June.  The 2,000 square-foot co-op apartment has three bedrooms, two baths and views of Bogardus Triangle Garden in Tribeca, just a five-block walk from RGGI’s office at 90 Church Street.

Secrecy is nothing new for RGGI and Schrag, as documented in a New Jersey Watchdog investigative report, “The Secrets Ten States & Wall Street Don’t Want You to Know.” 

...has three bedrooms, two bathrooms...

RGGI claims it’s not a “public agency” subject to state open records laws – even though it is a creation of state governments, governed by a board of directors consisting solely of governmental officials and funded by those governments to sell and manage government-issued carbon permits.

As a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization, RGGI must file an annual Form 990 – a public report required of tax-exempt entities.  The report requires various financial disclosures, including the pay of employees who receive at least $100,000 during the year. 

...and views of a park in trendy Tribeca

In his email response, Schrag suggested the public should wait until RGGI submits its 2009 report “according to IRS deadlines,” which allow for extensions.  He did not indicate when RGGI would actually file the report with the IRS or make it publicly available.