TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I support reducing pollution from transportation, now the largest emitter in Massachusetts, because clean air is important for my family's health, and the impacts of sea level rise and worsening storms associated with climate change will threaten our safety and wellbeing
more and more in the coming years.

I appreciate Governor Baker's leadership and sincerely hope that Massachusetts formally joins the TCI program. I urge leadership to adopt the most aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that current climate science indicates is needed to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

I believe TCI policy should prioritize clean transportation investments including electric transit, walking, and biking/micromobility in areas overburdened by pollution and in increasing access to reliable, clean transportation choices to those who currently lack them.

I know the TCI model works. I have an electric vehicle, a 2014 Chevy Volt, which I drive to Wickford Junction Station where I can catch an RI Public Transit Authority bus or MBTA commuter rail into Providence and on into Boston. Some of the buses and all of the trains stop at T.F. Green airport and the T gets me to South Station where I can catch the Silver Line to Logan Airport.
It's all pretty convenient, the real challenge is frequency of service. But that could go way up, if ridership were greater. I am a semi-retired baby boomer. Many people in my age cohort would prefer not driving. My wife and I hate driving to Boston. We need to make our region more economically competitive by having a great regionally integrated public transit system.

Governor Charlie Baker
Office of the Governor
24 Beacon Street Room 280
Boston, MA 02133


Dear Governor Baker:

The Massachusetts Campaign for a Clean Energy Future is a coalition of environmental, public health, labor, and civic organizations working to establish equitable carbon pricing policy for Massachusetts.

We support the potential of a well-structured regional Transportation Climate Initiative and want to ensure that the Commonwealth develops carbon reduction plans that are both effective and centered around equitable protections and investments. To that end, the organizations listed below, all of whom are members of Massachusetts Campaign for a Clean Energy Future, support the statement of principles developed and submitted by the Massachusetts TCI Table.

Please note that the nine organizations that are signatories to this letter represent thousands of engaged Massachusetts residents from Cape Cod to Western Massachusetts.
Environmental Ambition
We commend Governor Baker and members of the Baker-Polito administration for their regional leadership on TCI. As the participating jurisdictions work to develop a final Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), we encourage Massachusetts to provide continued leadership by encouraging other states to commit to TCI, to invest proceeds in clean transportation efforts, and to minimize negative impacts to low-income drivers while maximizing benefits to communities that lack affordable, reliable, and safe transportation.
The MA TCI Table asks the Baker-Polito administration to ensure that the TCI jurisdictions establish an emissions cap that aligns with Governor Baker’s recently announced commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 and the Massachusetts Senate’s proposed requirement of a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030.
Of the three cap levels analyzed by the TCI jurisdictions, the cap that most closely approaches that level of ambition is the cap that declines by 25 percent from 2022 to 2032; that cap level also delivers the greatest health, economic, and job-creation benefits. For those reasons, the undersigned support an emissions cap that declines by at least 25 percent from 2022 to 2032. We also recommend that the Administration conduct modeling of deeper reductions. The cap and other program design elements should be reviewed after the program’s first three years and every three years thereafter to ensure that the program is working as intended to reduce CO2 emissions and other harmful co-pollutants and is improved over time.
Investment of TCI Proceeds
We appreciate the need for each TCI jurisdiction to independently determine how to invest TCI proceeds to best meet the unique needs of their residents, workers, and businesses. However, we also believe that the draft MOU should include principles to ensure that investments deliver pollution reduction, improved air quality, increased sustainable transportation options in an equitable manner. This should include attention to good jobs standards.
The investment of TCI proceeds in Massachusetts should provide greater access to affordable, low-carbon transportation options throughout all geographic regions of the Commonwealth. Investments that benefit environmental justice communities, low-income populations, rural families, low-wage workers, and other populations that have been historically burdened by transportation pollution are necessary. The Commonwealth should prioritize these communities as they have faced disproportionate burdens from transportation pollution and unequal access to mobility options. TCI proceeds must minimize and mitigate cost impacts to low-income households and maximize expanded clean transportation benefits for low-income communities and other transit-dependent populations.
The Commonwealth’s share of proceeds from TCI allowance auctions should be managed transparently, with input from a stakeholder advisory council. Massachusetts should work directly with communities across the Commonwealth to identify investments that will deliver CO2 reductions, improved air quality, resilient infrastructure, and improved sustainable transportation options. TCI-funded investments should be highly visible through clear reporting of investments and investment impacts.
Complementary Policies
In addition to a cap-and-invest framework, complementary policies are needed to achieve the Commonwealth’s climate mandates, economic development, and public health goals. These should include policies such as reduced public transit fares, road pricing, zoning reform, public-private partnerships, improved governance and coordination of the MBTA, RTAs, human service transit, and other state and local agencies. Further, the undersigned agree with the Commission on the Future of Transportation that we need to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by or before 2040, and that all MBTA and RTA bus purchases must be electric by 2030.
The following member organizations of the Massachusetts Campaign for a Clean Energy Future look forward to working with you to ensure that Massachusetts participates in an environmentally ambitious and equitable TCI.
Sincerely,
Acadia Center
Cape and Islands Self-Reliance
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Now Western Massachusetts
Elder Climate Action Massachusetts
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization Climate Justice Task Force
Healthlink
League of Women Voters-Massachusetts
Salem Alliance for the Environment

I support Pennsylvania joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Environmental advocates across the region believe this is a critical step to improving transportation and addressing the climate crisis and a strong initiative is paramount to combating climate change. Please insure TCI includes a strong program that invests in public transportation, biking, walking, and prioritizes equity.

Thanks,
Will

A cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032
An increase in the minimum investment in overburdened and underserved communities (>35%)
Request that investments be put towards active transportation like better sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and high quality public transit

I am making the following requests:
A cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032
An increase in the minimum investment in overburdened and underserved communities (>35%)
Request that investments be put towards active transportation like better sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and high quality public transit

To whom it may concern:

For the TCI program, please institute the following:
1. A cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032
2. An increase in the minimum investment in overburdened and underserved communities (>35%)
3. Request that investments be put towards active transportation like better sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and high quality public transit

Thank you,
Ari Meyer

I am urging a cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032; an increase in the minimum investment in overburdened and underserved communities (>35%); and I request that investments be put towards active transportation like better sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and high quality public transit.

My city has way too many orange alert days for air quality, making it inadvisable to go outside, since I am a senior, one of the “sensitive groups” who are warned to stay inside. But I have to walk my little dog, himself in a sensitive group since he is only 18 pounds.
Much of our ozone and small particulates in Philadelphia come from the transportation sector. I already produce solar electricity on my garage roof, a great source of power for the electric car I will buy when my 16 year old Honda wears out. We have tremendous solar potential here. Every outdoor parking lot could be shaded by solar collectors!
A clean transportation sector is not rocket science. We can do this with available technology.