TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

The clock is ticking on the environment, and we have NO CHOICE but to improve it or we're blacking out the future for our kids and grandkids!

I have lived in Maryland most of my life. Over the years I have been proud of steps the state has taken to address issues promoting the common good, especially when the issues are complicated. Today climate change is clearly one of those issues. It is a situation where working with other states makes total sense. What an opportunity for Maryland to be ahead of the curve, joining 11 others and DC to make a difference. For this reason I am a strong supporter of the The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). This is a once in a generation opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and raise much needed revenue to modernize our transportation system on a regional scale.

As a Marylander, I thank Governor Hogan for his leadership in supporting TCI and request that Maryland formally join the program. I want the leaders of the TCI to choose the most aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets- as current scientific studies show that we need.

I also urge that the policy prioritize clean investments in all of Maryland's communities overburdened by pollution and for those who do not have access to transportation choices.

Thank you for considering this option.

Sincerely,
Joanne Schwarz

While living with an asthmatic, and sometimes suffering from poor air quality myself, I think that everything we can do to improve the air quality in our region is important. Reducing air pollution from transportation vehicles is an important step, and focusing on public buses such as school buses which still typically use diesel engines which bellow clouds of pollution when running cold or not adjusted properly. Exposing children to these fumes is wrong even if it's saving us taxpayers some dollars in costs, it comes back to us in poor health later in life. We also have increasing congestion in our valley from poor planning focusing mostly on development, and freight trucking. The transportation sector could consider how better about health effects of having too many people in an area.

I'd like to see a future with less air pollution, more public transportation, zero or low emission vehicles and walkable / bicycleable communities.

I applaud your work to reduce carbon-emissions by working cooperatively. Carbon emissions do not stop at the border of any particular state, so it is imperative for the states (and DC) to work together, supporting each other's needs, which my vary somewhat. It is time to: 1) encourage people to use public transit by making it affordable, convenient, and pleasant to use. This is a worthwhile financial investment. 2) tax sources of carbon emissions--cars, trucks, gasoline, and major industrial supplies of the products. 3) Invest heavily in alternative forms of energy, especially wind and solar. Fossil fuels are no longer a good investment. Solar and wind are the energy solutions of the future--that's when the smart money should go.

It is imperative, in order to reduce GHGs 40% by 2030, that we transition to EVs and BEBs as well as expand light rail and improve our public transportation systems. New car buyers need to be incentivized to buy electric. We need to continue the NY State rebates as well as pass legislation to have the first $30K of the EV purchase be tax free. We need to move more quickly on the infrastructure of fast chargers along all of our highways. This would encourage those who still have range anxiety that q quick charge is available everywhere across the state. Expanding light rail in NYs larger cities will take many cars off the road, reduce commute time and bring economic development along it's corridors. We need to provide more grants for our transit authorities to transition to BEBs as well as our school systems. This is an environmental justice issue as well as a way to improve our air quality. Since the transportation sector generates up to 40% of all GHGs in NY State with over 60% coming from light passenger vehicles improving accessibility and reliability in our public transit systems is of utmost importance in the equation. Buffalo residents without cars have long waiting periods between buses, sometimes dangerous stops due to snow pile up and not enough routes for outer city jobs. These are all ways to improve transportation while addressing goals to reduce GHGs.

If we don’t do something NOW to reverse climate change, we ain’t seen nothing yet...our weather is only going to get more dramatic..we ALL MUST do our part. I live in Phoenixville. There are no local trains coming into this town from Phila. Hell, there are no local trains coming to King of Prussia...no wonder our roads are jammed packed all the time. It’s not rush hour, it’s rush day!

I wholeheartedly endorse the Memorandum of Understanding presented by the Transportation Climate Initiative.

First and foremost, Delaware and our nation are woefully behind what should be our obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change. We need to do absolutely everything possible to spare our state and our nation from disaster. We are told here in Delaware that we will lose 10% of our land by 2100. This is an untenable situation. Adding a fee to gasoline and diesel fuels as they enter our state for re-sale would go far in alleviating the stress on our climate due to transportation-generated emissions.

I urge that the administrators of the auction returns give special attention to the advantages of reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by means of supportive land use policies...possibly paying for appropriate pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in a new Delaware phenomenon, Complete Communities Enterprise Districts.

Some critics of the TCI claim that poor people will be unfairly targeted by policies which will probably add additional cost to gasoline. Although the situation is not ideal, underserved populations may, and probably will, receive a disproportionate (and appropriate) share of the benefits accrued from the auction process. If climate change sets in even more severely than it is now, it is the poor who are left with fewer options in turns of moving to higher ground or using other means to avoid the brunt of the changing climate’s fury. In order to protect the poor we must do everything possible to reduce carbon emissions.

Right now the cost of gasoline is fairly low, so costs added to gasoline under current conditions would not be even as noticeable as normal fluctuations in the gas price. Germans pay regulatory taxes of 65.45 cents per liter of gas, plus 19 cents per liter in a value added, or sales tax. Since there are more than three liters in a gallon, this would equate to added fees of more than $2 per gallon, yet the German economy has not crumbled and people still manage to travel.

I beg our governmental officials to adopt this Memorandum of Understanding.

I believe that there is a climate emergency and that it would be irresponsible not to join the Transportation and Climate Initiative.