TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I really believe we need to reduce pollution from transportation. I request that maine formally join the plan to reduce emissions. Please ensure that the policy includes strong component of equity by prioritizing clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don't have access. I appreciate the bipartisan nature of this project, moving us forward while the federal government takes us backward

We need this initiative. We must reduce our dependency on carbon. We need to build a modern transportation system that will serve the next 5 generations, and do it without dependence on fossil fuels. Please approve this initiative. Our future depends on it.

The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) is an opportunity for Virginia and the Washington, DC metro region to reduce fossil fuel emissions and invest in clean transportation options including electric cars and buses, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, EV purchase tax credits, sidewalks/bike lanes, and regional rail. I strongly support and urge Virginia to move forward with and join the TCI as well as require that the revenue generated by the program be used to expand clean transportation. There are simply too many cars on the road contributing to our warming climate and adding to air pollution related health problems including asthma rates.

Transportation is responsible for nearly half (46 percent) of Virginia's greenhouse gas emissions. If Virginians want to do our part to slow climate change, we definitely need to tackle transportation emissions. In many ways, transportation presents one of the greatest obstacles to tackling climate change, as well as one of the biggest opportunities to address some of Virginia’s challenges.

TCI takes a regional approach. Virginia’s transportation systems are intimately connected to Washington, D.C., Maryland and the entire region, so a real solution to transportation challenges must be regional as well. Additionally, as a coastal state Virginia is already experiencing the impact of climate change more than most—and scientists have made it clear that we must dramatically scale up efforts to reduce GHG emissions if we are to mitigate the worst impacts of a warming world.

We must act now to implement thoughtful and collaborative solutions like TCI that will help address the climate challenge while also driving investments in a clean transportation future. Virginia’s state leaders need to join with our neighbors and build a clean and efficient transportation system that we can all benefit from.

Enough already with all of this wasteful spending. You people know darn well that doing this will have virtually no impact on carbon emissions until China, India and Russia agree to lowering their emissions. All this will do is take more of my hard earned money and I'm sick of it. Know this Governor Baker, you have lost my support as well as my entire families support. I will try to change as many peoples minds i can to not support you or your policies...enough is enough!!!

Electric vehicle use will reduce global warming, air pollution, and noise pollution. We should adopt this change to a clean transportation power source as soon as possible. Another obvious use for electric vehicles is the delivery of USPS mail. These vans are stop-and-go vehicles, used only in daytime hours, and could be recharged each night. Do states have any control of federal vehicles driven in their boundaries?

While generally supportive of the TCI framework, many of my reservations concerning equity and climate justice have already been expressed and received by you in the on-line and community meetings.

However, unspoken is the fact that the eventual burden of all 'cap and trade' or 'cap and invest' schemes is born by consumers who bear the cost through passed-through price increases, while those who have historically benefited greatly are the extractive industries themselves which have actively pursued policies deliberately designed to deny, deceive and distort the political process for decades concerning the cause and scope of global climate change. The cost of addressing climate change today is considerably more than it would be had we not been subjected to decades of delay perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry itself. Nothing in the TCI framework addresses this gross injustice. Nowhere in the TCI framework is there any mechanism for the extraction industries to bear or to share the "externalized" costs resulting from the sale and use of their products, or to provide compensation for the damage they have already done.

Increasing our gas cost will be very harmful to our community. These increases will hurt many aspects to business and for independent contractor will be devastating. I do not agree that an tax increase is presented in a alternate way without representation in our house. This needs to be debated and our representatives need to be on record as to how they voted. We as citizens of Massachusetts have this right and no one should take this away from us.

We the taxpaying legal citizens of Massachusetts five years ago overwhelmingly rejected the "Automatic Gas Tax". This unconstitutional end run around congress and the voters to force yet another tax on the people shall not stand. It will be fought on every front; Courts, polling stations, media and in the streets. These phony baloney excuses to punish the poorest among us on a product we all must buy is a lie on it's face. The ice caps on Mars and Europa are melting at the same rate they are here on Earth. My V8 might burn a lot of gas, but it is not changing the weather on Mars and the moons of Jupiter. I realize our alleged "representatives" count on the ignorance, laziness and stupidity of the voters, but this time, it's not going to happen.

I reject any new tax or increase of tax on fuel.
Bad for business, family and food cost