TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I MA OPPOSE TO THIS PROGRAM AS IT WOILD RAISE THE PRICE OF GASOLINE BY 10 TO 20 CENTS PER GALLON.

The governor’s appointees from the Public Service Department, the Agency of Transportation and the Agency of Natural Resources have been holding public meetings across the state to introduce the TCI to Vermonters. They are basically saying:

- Vermonters will pay TCI’s compliance costs whether or not Gov. Scott joins the program.
- The State will receive back more for investments than Vermonters contribute, if Vermont does join the TCI.

Seems like an obvious choice: Vermont should join TCI and get back more than we put in, rather than opt out, pay TCIs costs anyway and get nothing in return.

As a Montgomery Country resident and one who until my recent retirement worked in the Tysons Corner, Virginia area, I think that there are several significant measures to improve not only our air quality, but our quality of life.

First, instead of talking about adding lanes to existing and already over crowded roads and bridges, why not build light rail lines that run parallel to these roads and bridges? Why not a circular light rail line that parallels the Beltway and intersects with the existing Metro lines and the soon to be opened Purple Line? Yes, the initial expenditure would be costly, but the improvements in our air quality and the reduction in commuting time and stress would be well worth the expenditure.

Also, if we are going to create livable, safe, clean communities - we need to improve safety for pedestrians. Instead of roads without sidewalks or with intersections that are downright deadly, we need to create roads and intersections where pedestrians (including children and seniors) can cross safely. There are a number of ways to do this - expanding the use of the Barnes Dance (a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily stops all vehicular traffic, thereby allowing pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction, including diagonally, at the same time), building either pedestrian over or underpasses across major roads, or do what Barcelona does in the area around the Placa Catalunya (putting the traffic lights midblock, so pedestrians are not competing with cars that are turning.)

Improving our environment and quality of life and alleviating our transportation problems does require investment, but more importantly it requires imagination and a willingness to get rid of the not invented here mindset.

The Citizens Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan nonprofit volunteer advocacy group with over 500 grassroots chapters. CCL supports the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, H.R. 763, a market-based solution to climate change that encourages emissions reductions while helping the economy.

Please see:
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/energy-innovation-and-carbon-dividend-act/
for more information and how you can help.

“Most impressive is the work of Citizens’ Climate Lobby…If you want to join the fight to save the planet, to save creation for your grandchildren, there is no more effective step you could take than becoming an active member of this group.” ~ Dr. James Hansen, Climate Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The largest source of pollution in the northeast US is from transportation. These emissions result in increased asthma and other pollution-related illnesses, and even death. The impacts on health from air pollution particularly affect the most vulnerable: children, elderly, the chronically ill, and people living in low-income communities. Healthcare costs increase along with the average temperatures. It is not a hoax: My state of New Jersey is absolutely seeing changes in climate and it appears to be accelerating.

The northeast states have been leaders in changing sources of energy from coal to renewable and that investment has brought jobs and greater efficiency. The next logical step would be to be at the forefront of reducing transportation emissions and cleaning up the air we breathe. It's going to take research, creativity, ingenuity, and, yes, investment to accomplish this goal, but I think it's a challenge these states can tackle together. A "cap and invest" program, as used to make the transition to renewable energy sources, could work in a similar way with reducing transportation pollution.

I live in this region. I am supportive of all initiatives to reduce all types of pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.

As a small business owner, I think that TCI is a great idea. In my community, we've seen increasing storms in the past few years that have harmed my business. We've had to cancel many of our events due to these storms, and because our building is older, its been really hard to keep up with building updates.

I care a lot about the environment, and I think that joining TCI would be a great move to help us mitigate some of the worst effects. As someone who lives in an area where we have to drive everywhere, I think it would be great to have the funds from TCI to reinvest in electric vehicle infrastructure. At the moment, I can't really afford an electric car, but with subsidies from TCI this could be possible. Even if this increasing gas prices in the short term, I'm okay with paying for those if in the long term we are not only saving money on vehicle costs, but are also saving our community's environment.

I think TCI is really needed right now, and I fully support this initiative.