View Public Input on TCI-P

TCI-P- must strengthen the Vermont economy, reduce carbon pollution, and address equity – specifically the needs of communities that are overburdened by fossil fuel pollution and under-served by cleaner transportation options.
Vermont averages $2 billion a year in fossil fuel spending, and roughly 75%, or $1.5 billion, leaves our state’s economy. Conversely, investing in renewable energy and efficiency solutions keeps a much higher portion of our energy dollars here in Vermont, creates family-sustaining jobs, and spurs economic growth.

TCI-P offers an historic opportunity to advance solutions that recognize our shared responsibility to take climate action, improve our ailing transportation infrastructure, stimulate our economy, and strengthen our most vulnerable communities.

As a resident if Virginia, such a tax would make our retired lives here very difficult. Our income is limited. I’m not sure how we could afford transportation to the supermarket, doctor appointments, volunteer opportunities, visits to our sons and grandchild who are an hour away, etc. We don’t live next to a main highway with mass transportation. The winters are too cold, the ice too slippery, no sidewalks, distances too far and we are too old to walk everywhere. We might have to move to a state that is more senior-friendly. I can’t even begin to imagine the hardship this will cause: gas or meds, gas or food, gas or internet, gas or life???

Virginia should not join TCI. It will impact average citizens, truckers and businesses alike.

Rural areas continue to lack funding for transportation and the county in which I live, Augusta, is a prime example.

Virginia cannot afford to join the TCI. The cost to the energy sector will trickle down and impact all Virginians using fuel.

It is unconscionable to consider reducing the current emissions allowance! We must constantly limit the amount of emissions in order to attain attain a sustainable level in our environment! As always once a ruling is in place, it must be allowed to reach levels and maintain them. It is only when regulations are in place, we see progress. We must address this source of pollution to protect clean air, tackle the climate crisis, and begin the hard work of remedying years of systemic discrimination that resulted in more car exhaust and dirtier air in overburdened, underserved communities.

I support a strong TCI-P Model Rule that (1) ensures meaningful climate action to address Virginia's largest driver of our climate crisis, (2) directs significant investments to correcting historic inequities in overburdened and underserved communities; and (3) affords Virginia the opportunity for a cleaner, healthier transportation system.

We enthusiastically support the adoption of TCI-P by Virginia and other states in the region. TCI-P is a win-win proposition that will improve air quality and people's health while generating revenue to help participating states speed the transition to a clean-energy economy. And it will help us leave a livable environmental to our grandchildren and theirs. Transportation is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Virginia and the region, and the source of dangerous particulates that exacerbate health problems like asthma, especially for those near major roads, which often include lower income and minority communities. To solve these problems we need to move to a clean transportation system and a clean-energy economy, and TCI-P will greatly help Virginia and the region do this. For its immediate air-quality and health benefits, and its enduring climate benefits, we strongly urge the prompt adoption of TCI-P throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England region. The time to act is now.