TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Use the funds from the last 2 years of billion dollar surplus from the state budget!

Dear Sirs,

I strenuously object to the TCI proposal as it undermines our Constitutional protections against taxation without representation. Calling something a fee is a tax by another name. All tax proposals MUST be generated through the legislative process and our elected officials in the Legislature. The TCI proposal is an "end run" around the voters of this state who would otherwise reject this proposal.

I urge a rejection of this unconstitutional proposal.

These ' Initiatives ' generally result in extreme programs that do not result positive and
practical solutions.

After reviewing many of the comments posted to date was well as the draft framework policy proposal, I offer the following:
1. The predicted climate impacts due to our current trajectory of injecting GHGs into the environment is settled science with the caveat that due to the complexity of earth’s climate engine and the uncertainty of our collective mitigation actions, the statistical margins of error in the predictions leave room for debate as to any one specific outcome. But what is certain is that at some point in the near decades we will reach a point where attempting to reverse the damage in any reasonable time frame will become highly unlikely without resorting to risky geoengineering solutions (e.g. aerosols inserted into the atmosphere to block sunlight) with a ton of potentially unintended consequences such as significant impacts to crop production.
2. Any course of action must not disproportionately come back on low income communities which already have a higher exposure to toxic environments. Similarly, rural areas could see a bigger impact if fuel costs are significantly raised, due to carbon taxing/offsets, as a necessary step in lowering emissions – this must be counterbalanced.
3. The idea that we should depend on as yet undiscovered “wonder technologies” or fusion base energy sources to invent our way out of the crisis is way too risky. One does not go to war with a strategy that depend on weapons not even thought of.
4. That said, both businesses and individuals must ramp up their contributions to mitigation efforts. Politicians never use the word “sacrifice”, election implications being what they are, but that is what we will have to do. There is no climate mitigation free lunch and those that have more should sacrifice more.
5. Many questions remain about the exact mechanisms that will be used to reverse the increase in transportation related emissions – DEC/TCI/NYSERDA should provide a few detailed plausible scenarios to illustrate the entire process flow from energy supplier to consumer.

Reducing our carbon emissions is critical and we need to make long term investments now.

I am now on the verge of chronic bronchitis due to living in the Connecticut river valley in Massachusetts. We get air pollution from New York and states west like Ohio. I am also developing asthma and my doctor says he is seeing more and more of this. Our lungs can't take it. We need clean transportation NOW!

I give my support for a clean transportation initiative. We need clean public transportation. We have the technology and the ability to do this. Monorails bring in three times as much economic benefit to a community compared to driving cars. Electric, elevated high-speed trains can move large numbers of people quietly and efficiently from place to place without endangering individuals, domesticated animals, or wildlife, unlike diesel engine trains currently in use. We need to overcome the influence to dirty energy corporations that seek profit over enriching the lives of our communities.

There are so many possible ways to begin addressing the impact of transportation on climate change, but the important thing is that we begin somewhere. I favor: more charging stations for electric cars and trucks; increased gasoline taxes; and increased support for public transportation, especially high speed rail as an alternative to airplane travel. These are just the low hanging fruit. I hope that many more ideas will emerge.