TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Connecticut’s transportation sector is the biggest single emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the state at 38% of the total. This is a climate crisis, and we must immediately work to address the greatest challenge of our generation.

I support a transportation plan that is focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution while investing in sustainable transportation modes. Bus transit, rail, walking, and biking must be improved across the state, especially in cities and town centers.

This transportation plan is also a land use plan, and we must stop investing in a sprawling, unsustainable development model. Future development in the state must be in cities, town centers, and near transit stations.
We should not be investing in expanding interstates. Expanding our interstates in Connecticut both increases emissions in the long term from induced demand and increased driving while putting development pressure on the state’s dwindling forests and farms.

Many cities and towns in the region have shovel-ready plans to improve transit, rail, and active transportation. We must invest in a future with more people on buses, trains, on foot, and riding bicycles. That future includes more transit-oriented development in walkable communities.
Addressing greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles also means immediate health benefits for our most overburdened populations as a result of improved air quality and fewer emissions of localized pollutants responsible for cancer and respiratory and cardiovascular ailments, among other adverse health impacts.

I am SO glad that we are to be working on reducing pollution from transportation and I am grateful that Governor Baker is taking leadership in requesting that Massachusetts formally join the program.
Please now choose the most aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that the most recent climate science tells us we need.
And please, please institute policy that prioritizes clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices.
Thank you for real leadership on reducing pollution!

We can cut poverty and pollution at the same time. We urge you to move forward with a regional program that prioritizes the needs of communities overburdened with pollution and underserved in mobility options.

We need a bold and ambitious plan to cut transportation pollution in our country and state. Please create such a plan.

Maine must support clean transportation to combat climate change and make it easier and cheaper to get around. We can not continue to allow the entrenched fossil fuel industry to literally drive us over a cliff that means more pollution, more carbon emissions and missed economic development opportunities. Our family of five fully supports the multi-state Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI)!

Pollution from old cars and trucks is our largest source of pollution, and as a rural state we have our fair share of transportation problems. Mainers deserve solutions that get us safely to work, to stores and appointments, and to our favorite outdoor places—solutions that are affordable, reliable, and reduce air pollution. The technology and know-how exists to get us there; the only thing stopping us is deaf politicians that continue to protect industry over citizens.

TCI will bring significant economic, environmental, and health benefits to Maine, providing hundreds of millions of dollars for local communities in economic growth and health benefits. The TCI keeps investment in our state and revitalizes our transportation sector which in turn will improve business and the tourism economy. TCI is just what we need right now. When federal leadership is non-existent we must lead locally and regionally. Please support, fund and encourage TCI.

I strongly support the development and implementation of policies to reduce transportation pollution in our region. The resulting improvements in air quality are essential for public health, including for my own family members who have medical conditions affecting their lungs. Furthermore, it is imperative that we act now to curb the effects of climate change so that future generations of Marylanders can live healthy, productive lives. Please enact policies like the proposed cap and invest program to limit pollution and carbon emissions and to invest in a better future for Marylanders.

I urge support of the TCI commitment to design a regional low-carbon transportation policy to reduce carbon emissions through a cap-and-invest or similar pricing mechanism possibly analogous to the RGGI cap on power plant emissions.

Because any increase in transportation costs will hurt poor and rural residents disproportionately I urge that mechanisms to help these groups be put in place, loosely analogous to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

I also support substantial increases in gas taxes at the pump, provided similar provision is made to help those who can least afford such taxes.

And once the percentage of private electric and hybrid vehicles is more than a certain percentage of total private vehicles, I support an alternative tax based on annual miles traveled to pay for upkeep of roads. However until then I support incentives for purchase of electric vehicles and E.V. hybrids (until charging stations everywhere).

I had to move from Honda Fit to Subaru Outback because small Fit wheels were repeatedly damaged in potholes. (Wanted a Prius wagon but it lacked electronic assist features of Prius sedan and Outback.)

However I would want to block using these funds (or any, especially public private partnerships) for expansion of highways, because that simply drives induced demand.


Sarah Lesher
9728 Hedin Dr., Silver Spring, MD 20903

The TCI Would be Beneficial for Vermonters With a Grain of Salt
As an environmental studies student in Vermont, I have learned extensively about the climate crisis happening today while experiencing what transportation is like in a rural state. I believe that this transportation initiative, while not a final or extensive enough solution for all of the issues regarding climate change, would begin to make a difference so long as marginalized communities are taken into account properly. According to the U.S. Energy Information Center data collected in 2017, transportation is the leading emitter of CO2 from the area encompassed by the TCI proposal, making this an important sector to target as they have bee left out of past initiatives, such as RGGI. Simply by taking a step to reduce these emissions, these areas can demonstrate a clear commitment to the mitigation of climate change and make a significant difference. This plan may be extremely helpful in actively participating in the climate change movement, but it needs to keep in mind the idea of environmental justice while doing so in order to be an effective and beneficial program.
The section in the TCI Memorandum of Understanding regarding “equity” and the language around disadvantaged communities are minimal, leading to reasonable concern that the vagueness of this initiative will lead to further marginalization of low-income or underprivileged communities. While this plan of “cap and invest” could be extremely helpful in discouraging the emission of CO2 and collecting money to use for other climate change mitigation tactics and improvements to infrastructure, there can be concern that those who are the least able to pay would be bearing the brunt of this fee. However, because of the invest concept, these groups of Vermonters could experience great rewards in addition to climate change mitigation if the investments are used for things such as increased public transport or other programs that improve life quality.
The California Climate Investments project, which enacted a similar cap and investment policy in 2015, was able to invest $690 million dollars in priority populations in 2019 alone. These investments went into projects including affordable housing, zero-emission vehicles, and “improved mobility options;” all of these concepts could be extremely helpful to people who would be subject to higher prices for gas due to the cap portion of this plan. The affordable housing options could help create more urbanized centers that would allow for easier mobility, which is a goal emphasized in Vermont’s plans for transportation improvement. Increased access to zero-emission vehicles and improved transit systems would directly assist people who may already be suffering from lack of transportation access.
Because Vermont is such a rural state, many individuals rely on private transportation methods to go to work or school. A report in 2015, however, by the Vermont Transportation Board, reported that driving habits in Vermont decreased by 8.4% from 2007 to 2015, showing that the number of people driving single occupancy vehicles has been decreasing. While there may be varying reasons for this decline, it indicates that there may be a need for an increase in public transportation infrastructure, including extended bus routes. The investment aspect of the TCI plan could be extremely beneficial in providing this needed increase in public transportation. Therefore, a key aspect of making this initiative successful and equitable would be requiring these beneficial investments to be made within a reasonable time from when people begin to be impacted by the increasing prices.
Because transportation is a huge emitter of CO2 in the proposed TCI region, targeting this aspect of infrastructure is key to both making a difference and demonstrating commitment to climate change mitigation. However, this is where the grain of salt comes in as I believe that this proposal would benefit from a more specific policy regarding the use of funds raised by the cap and investment proposal. If the TCI or the states involved in the agreement were to specify options for where the funds would be used and determine how to best mitigate the time-lag that could occur between increased prices and providing funding for beneficial programs, then the TCI would be a much stronger proposal that could help people in more ways than one. Overall, this program should be supported with the understanding that the vague language leaves room for and also a need for an environmental justice aspect.

Partnership for the Public Good (PPG) is a community-based think tank that provides research and advocacy support to over 300 partners in Buffalo, NY. Each year, we hear from our partners that lack of investment in public transit is a major concern for them and the clients they serve. Our public transit system varies in quality depending on where you live in our city, and often the poorest, most vulnerable residents in our city, those who rely on public transit the most, are the same residents who have the least access to public transportation. We need a significant source of additional income for our public transit system, and this is especially true given the climate crisis and the need to reduce vehicle miles traveled. The revenue generated from this cap and invest program would be the perfect source for public transit funding.

Funding our public transit system will make our city more equitable by making jobs, healthcare visits, and other necessary trips more accessible to all in our city, especially for the most economically vulnerable. It will also constitute major strides toward a more environmentally just city as we mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing GHG emissions and invest in communities that have historically faced (and continue to face) environmental racism. Further, this investment is especially critical in this period of COVID-19 as our public transportation system faces extreme financial uncertainty and will likely have to cut service. This is unacceptable for our city, but especially for our most vulnerable populations.

Please take action on this cap and invest program immediately, and funnel the revenues from the program into our public transportation systems with an emphasis on serving those who have been disproportionately impacted by transportation-generated pollution and other systemic inequities.

Here is PPG's report on Race, Employment and Public Transportation in Erie County: https://ppgbuffalo.org/files/documents/working_toward_equalityfinal.pdf