New York State relies heavily on Wall Street as an economic engine. With the financial-services industry in its deepest funk since the Great Depression, New York politicians are extremely skittish about the state’s economic prospects.

That’s why Gov. David Paterson has been scrambling to help prop up AIG, the wobbly New York-based insurance behemoth.

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And that’s not all he’s doing in response to a possible economic slump for his state. According to The Daily Green, the governor is also prepared to gut the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an alliance among ten northeastern states to cap carbon emissions.

The RGGI (known as "Reggie") is scheduled to go into effect next week, but reports TDG’s Dan Shapley:

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Paterson, a Democrat, recently drafted an executive order that would give him more power to dilute regulations that businesses find onerous. And he refused to exempt RGGI … in comments to the press.