TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Thank you for this initiative! With transportation emissions a significant factor in climate change and the threat it poses to life on earth, it is essential that this challenge be addressed.

I urge my home state of Maine to formally join the plan to reduce emissions. I further urge that the policy prioritize clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution.

Thank you for the bipartisan nature of this project! You are demonstrating more leadership and maturity than those in Washington.

I am deeply concerned about the impact of climate change on our state and our world. Pollution from transportation is our largest source of global warming emissions. I am writing to request that New Hampshire formally join the plan to reduce emissions. I commend the bipartisan nature of this project - which is moving us forward while the federal government takes us backward.

We need to focus on reducing pollution from transportation for climate sake, as well as to ensure our communities are livable. Maryland should formally join the plan to reduce emissions and should take important actions to ensure the protection of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Any transportation policy should prioritize clean investments and should assist those areas that don't have access to clean investments. I appreciate the bipartisan creation of this policy and stress the need for regions to move forward, especially at a time when our federal government seems to be reversing course.

Please join the plan to reduce transportation emissions. Please take action on the climate crisis now, before it's too late. We are all breathing harmful chemicals from transportation vehicles every day. This is reflected in the increase in poor health across all age groups.
Please institute strong programs that invest in public transportation, biking, walking, and prioritize equity.

I ask New York State to join the plan to reduce transportation emissions. This is a critical step to improving transportation and addressing the climate crisis. biking and walking, more frequent and reliable public transportation, greater access to electric vehicles, and a more equitable system with cleaner transportation options for everyone in the region.
I demand the most comprehensive program possible: we need improved transportation options, we need polluters to pay their fair share for the damage they are causing, and we need to act now!

The more we limit pollution from motor fuels, the more jobs are created, the more the economy grows, the healthier our air is and the more lives we save.

Governors from across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic released a draft agreement to limit climate pollution from motor fuels and invest in an economy built on clean transportation. These changes will reduce traffic congestion, make clean vehicles more accessible, increase jobs, and grow the economy.

Massachusetts needs to be a part of this movement.

As a mother of two teens and resident of this beautiful state, I am concerned about the climate crisis, our future, my children's future and future generation’s futures. To this end, I urge Vermont to participate in the Transportation and Climate Initiative so that all Vermonters, including my kids, live in a world where they do not have to choose between being able to get where they need to go and polluting the planet irreparably.

We have a shrinking window of opportunity here. If we continue to drag our feet and take baby steps we will miss the mark and change the planet irreparably. Now is the time to take bold action. Choosing to support the TCI is one way we can act.

Vermont, like other states, desperately needs additional funding to create innovative, equitable transportation options for all, including seniors, people with disabilities, people with low incomes, for whom transportation costs and accessibility are an added burden, children, residents and visitors alike to our great state. TCI can provide this support.

As an individual who loves to recreate outside I see the high need to preserve the beauty and fresh air, biodiversity and wildlife, and make our state more accessible. We might be a rural state, but that is no excuse for expecting people to rely solely on personal vehicles, which are costly to operate and have limitations for many, in addition to being high polluters.

As you know, Vermont’s participation in a cap and invest program is not new. Under Governor Jim Douglas, Vermont joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in 2008. This cap and invest program covers the electric sector in the Northeast, and it has proven very successful, reducing consumer costs and carbon pollution from the power sector by 40%.

Vermont has strategically invested the revenues raised from RGGI, directing the $2 million annually into weatherization programs that help Vermonters stop wasting energy and save money. We know this type of project works — there is no excuse not to adopt TCI as well.
TCI provides the opportunity to tackle the biggest problem of our day — the climate crisis — by reducing emissions in our state’s most carbon-intensive sector, while diverting funds into much-needed transportation infrastructure that will benefit all.

We can either seize this opportunity to make monumental progress and have a chance to prosper in a clean energy future, or accept a status quo that is only becoming more and more difficult for Vermonters and more harmful to our environment.

I urge Vermont to formally join TCI so we can create a clean energy future that works better for everyone, especially our most vulnerable. Thank you for the work you’ve done so far to advance TCI across the region.

Over the past decade, the Northeast region of the United States has helped lead the country—and the world—in supporting and developing clean, renewable sources of electricity. Taken together, the policies of Northeast states, from Maine to Maryland, have generated billions of dollars in investment for solar, wind, and efficiency. One driving force behind this investment is a regional initiative that caps emissions from the electricity sector, charges power plants for the emissions they generate, and invests the revenue from those fees into efficiency and clean energy programs. This initiative has helped fundamentally change the region’s electricity sector: we have achieved unprecedented penetration of renewables, nearly eliminated the use of coal, and reduced overall electricity use at a time of economic expansion.
The next big step for the region is to bring that same sense of commitment, ingenuity, and purpose to clean transportation.
Transportation is the largest source of pollution in the Northeast region, comprising more than 40 percent of total regional global warming emissions (Georgetown Climate Center 2015). In addition to the health impacts associated with rising temperatures, soot and ground-level ozone from the region’s cars
and trucks are responsible for more than 50,000 asthma attacks, 1,000 deaths,
and other pollution-related illnesses that incur approximately $27 billion in total health care costs every year (Holmes-Gen and Barrett 2016). The health impacts of transportation affect all of us, but especially vulnerable are children, the elderly, the chronically ill, and people in low-income communities (who often live in or near freight corridors).
A growing number of people are choosing to live in neighborhoods where nearby amenities and public transportation can make car-free living more feasible. Above, the Boston Harborwalk, more than 40 miles long, connects the city’s waterfront neighborhoods. Forward-thinking policies can help the region adapt to growing populations and reduce dependence on personal vehicles.