8/25/2019 |
Anthony |
Cherolis |
Transport Hartford / BiCi Co. at the Center for Latino Progress |
Hartford |
Connecticut |
Modeling greenhouse gas reduction from the adoption of electric vehicles without including in that model the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions due to the production (raw materials, manufacturing... read more Modeling greenhouse gas reduction from the adoption of electric vehicles without including in that model the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions due to the production (raw materials, manufacturing, shipping to end user, and eventual disposal/recycling) of those EV's is an incomplete model. The first model presented in Aug 2018 only showed GHG reduction from on-road emissions, without presenting the significant GHG emissions from the production of those new EV's. Accounting for and modeling only on-road emissions reductions will also bias the investments toward EV's when other investments may be more effective interventions.
Another concern that I have with bookkeeping of (car-like) EV emissions reductions is that the concept of a low occupancy motor vehicle supports several system level inefficiencies that increase GHG emissions. For example, EV's (with lower operating and fuel costs) are likely to support and perhaps expand sprawling single family housing development, increasing that type of GHG heavy development while also wiping out more GHG absorption due to development of forests and open space. If there was a way to model VMT-increase (or decrease) and the correlation to sprawling development and associated emissions, the model could more completely capture the GHG impacts of low-occupancy vehicle trips.
Keep up the great work! |
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2/13/2020 |
Keonte |
JaghaiLlittle |
Transport Hartford |
Hartford |
Connecticut |
My name is Keonte and I'm an Intern for Transport Hartford at the Center for Latino Progress. I attend A.I Prince Tech as a 12th grader and I live in Hartford. The Transportation &... read more My name is Keonte and I'm an Intern for Transport Hartford at the Center for Latino Progress. I attend A.I Prince Tech as a 12th grader and I live in Hartford. The Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) is a very important matter, it can play a big role in our future. TCI should be talked about amongst younger age groups because our future should be safe from pollutants that encourage global warming. To accomplish this, TCI is a way for states to work together, developing policies to reduce carbon emission and deliver better transportation systems. Encouraging this could better our air quality. Hartford has lots of pollution from the highways and car traffic, which has led to high asthma rates in my community.
Public health investments from TCI money could reduce those high rates. considering a large number of kids that go to the middle school are,
TCI investments can support more crossing guards throughout the streets as well as enforcing the stop signs more. Cars tend to speed; this is a safety issue that can cause a lot of damage.
THA has organized workshops and meetings to discuss these matters. I want to see more transit-oriented development in communities and more people being able to use the bus in their area without worrying about how to get to where they are going. We also need a better traveling system that has more clean energy, reducing carbon emissions. TCI is meant to make people feel safe and secure me personally. I support it cause it can be a benefit to everyone, old or young taking a change now can positively change our future for others to come.
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2/13/2020 |
Jason |
Ahmad |
Transport Hartford |
Hartford |
Connecticut |
My name is Jason Ahmad. I am an 11th grade student at University High School in Hartford, CT. I live in Hartford near the Children’s Hospital and I can quite confidently say that the air quality... read more My name is Jason Ahmad. I am an 11th grade student at University High School in Hartford, CT. I live in Hartford near the Children’s Hospital and I can quite confidently say that the air quality here sucks. Any time I walk anywhere in the city I can basically taste the pollutants in the air. While most of it is caused by car emissions there is still a large chunk of it caused by local power plants. I think the cap-and-invest plan would be very effective in lowering the air pollution here and New England as a whole. The money produced by this plan could be reinvested into infrastructure that would promote electric vehicles. This would help lower the ridiculous amount of pollutants here in Hartford. Another good thing about making companies pay for their pollutants is that it would make them try to find a more environmentally friendly way to do their business as it is the cheapest option for them. Now, unfortunately, companies sometimes just try to find loopholes or workarounds that usually end up being more harmful than the way they were doing it before. You would just have to leave it to some other organization to stop this, or even the government.
I think the best way to use the money made from the companies would be to increase the incentive the CT government gives to people who buy electric vehicles as CT already has a lot of the infrastructure for it. The reason we don't see as many electric vehicles is because people already have gas cars. If you give them more of an incentive for switching then people are more likely to switch. One of the big things is letting people know that these incentives exist. I didn’t know this existed until I found it while researching a completely unrelated topic. I also think that if you give a way for people to get out of car leases if they want to switch to an electric car, there would be a lot more people who switch. A car trade-in system could also work if it was done with used cars. Let someone trade their car in for an electric one at a cheaper price of maybe 40% of the original price of the electric car. I would do that if I knew I wouldn’t have to pay for gas in the new one.
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2/13/2020 |
Shaniya |
Davies |
Transport Hartford |
Hartford |
Connecticut |
My name is Shaniya Davies. I go to Weaver High School in Hartford Connecticut and I'm an intern with the Transport Hartford Academy. I've been researching the Transportation Climate... read more My name is Shaniya Davies. I go to Weaver High School in Hartford Connecticut and I'm an intern with the Transport Hartford Academy. I've been researching the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), a regional effort to reduce pollution, improve transportation, and develop clean energy. We want to see more people care about climate change.
Last summer, our organization surveyed over 800 people who live and work in CT who believe our state should adopt TCI. Transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, mostly because of how much we drive cars - so we need better options. For TCI’s investments, 92% of our survey respondents want to see CT Improving existing public transportation, including buses, trains, and dial a ride, while 91% said expanding /Improving sidewalks and bike lanes to provide safe alternatives to driving should be spending priorities.
As a teenager with asthma who gets around mostly by walking and taking the bus, public health, walking safety, and transit service are big concerns that TCI investments can help us address. Many people in my community have health issues in their systems.
I have asthma and there is too much pollution. Asthma is a serious thing to deal with people who could have asthma attacks. They could be low on breathing. It could cause death on somebody. I don't wanna risk falling in the middle of the street or getting run over by a car. TCI will promote sustainability and healthy/livable communities. Should have benefits and more effort in the environment by working together and making more increase and do better. It should change all stages of transportation, including people who take the bus in making decisions planning, design, and construction. We can have better data analysis to measure resources, benefits, and outcomes of a community.
Like for some people that have experience from taking the bus. For example I take the bus and the bus schedules don't even be right i would have to sit in the cold to wait for the bus. I was going to work by taking the bus and i waited for almost an hour for the bus come and i was late to work.So i would have to take the bus earlier than what i usually do so i wouldn’t be late and end up getting in trouble from my job, They Should have better routes and access,time management lets others know the exact time instead of waiting for a certain amount of time for the bus to arrive at the stop or destination.
Sidewalks should look better so people can walk without walking into cracks, holes, and more things on the ground. This is important for public health, cutting pollution, helping my community.
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12/22/2019 |
Michael |
Panasuik |
TR&GC |
Barrington |
Rhode Island |
No more or any carbon taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more or any carbon taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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2/28/2020 |
Edmond |
Young |
Toyota Motor North America, Inc. |
Plano |
Texas |
TOYOTA's comments regarding Draft TCI MOU are attached. read more TOYOTA's comments regarding Draft TCI MOU are attached. |
TOYOTA Comments - Draft TCI MOU 2020-02-28.pdf |
2/28/2020 |
Edmond |
Young |
Toyota Motor North America, Inc. |
Plano |
Texas |
Attached are Toyota's comments regarding the TCI Draft MOU. Please let us know if you have any questions. Kind regards. read more Attached are Toyota's comments regarding the TCI Draft MOU. Please let us know if you have any questions. Kind regards. |
TOYOTA Comments - Draft TCI MOU 2020-02-28.pdf |
5/31/2019 |
Andrea |
Lubawy |
Toyota Motor North America |
Washington |
District of Columbia |
Alternative fuel vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, will play an important role in decreasing transportation CO2 emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Ensuring access... read more Alternative fuel vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, will play an important role in decreasing transportation CO2 emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Ensuring access to reliable and affordable hydrogen fueling infrastructure will play a key role in supporting consumer adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles, thereby reducing CO2.
To that end, TMNA supports efforts by TCI to ensure that the Reference Case accurately represents the need for this fueling infrastructure. NEMS’ fuel availability methodology is based on the historical relationship between vehicle stock and refueling stations. However, given the historical shortfall in hydrogen refueling stations, a Reference Case based on this historical relationship could lead to further underinvestment in hydrogen stations.
If improved to address this problem, NEMS could be used as a tool to assist in projecting how much overall hydrogen infrastructure will be needed to support a growing population of fuel cell vehicles in the TCI Regions, and this infrastructure requirement could be communicated to the states as part of investment planning in infrastructure. It should be noted, however, that hydrogen infrastructure works best when taking into account travel patterns, local vehicle adoption, station redundancy, etc., rather than distributed evenly across all regions. Industry can provide the best guidance for specific placement and number of hydrogen stations needed. It should also be noted that hydrogen stations currently require up to 2 years from planning to opening in order to find land, obtain permits, and complete construction. |
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2/28/2020 |
Elsa |
Lankford |
Towson University |
Baltimore |
Maryland |
Clean, equitable, affordable, and safe transportation is a serious issue. Having better and cleaner mass transit provides cleaner air, gets people to work, creates jobs, and helps move us towards... read more Clean, equitable, affordable, and safe transportation is a serious issue. Having better and cleaner mass transit provides cleaner air, gets people to work, creates jobs, and helps move us towards a more carbon-neutral goal. This is an issue not just about cities, we need to be thinking about intra and inter city, but also connecting more suburban and rural areas to workable mass transit solutions as well. A 40% reduction in climate pollution created by transportation by 2030 is a challenging goal, but one that we should be striving for. Climate catastrophe is not going to allow us to sit idly by. |
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1/28/2020 |
David |
Schneider |
Town Resident |
Branford |
Connecticut |
We need to reduce greenhouse gas on every front to create an environment to meet the basic needs of clean air, pure water, viable soil for plant life and food supply, and David the sustainability... read more We need to reduce greenhouse gas on every front to create an environment to meet the basic needs of clean air, pure water, viable soil for plant life and food supply, and David the sustainability of all life forms that enrich life on Earth. Sound transportation strategies, building strategies, community planning strategies, etc. designed to support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve these objectives for a healthful future for the generations to come. |
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10/22/2019 |
Bob |
Higgins-Steele |
Town of Truro Climate Action Committee |
Truro |
Massachusetts |
Disincentives to single person automobile travel such as a substantial increase in gasoline taxes complement the cap and invest mechanism of the TCI.
To minimize the regressive... read more Disincentives to single person automobile travel such as a substantial increase in gasoline taxes complement the cap and invest mechanism of the TCI.
To minimize the regressive nature of such a tax there could be an exemption to persons or families earning 250% times poverty level, or perhaps 60% of median income for the state.
People who qualify would be given a transponder and gas stations a transponder reader. The upfront set up cost would be borne by the state then reimbursed from the tax revenue.
In 2017 Massachusetts drivers used 2,700,036,000 gallons of gasoline according to the EPA.
Approximately 25% of Massachusetts residents would qualify for an exemption using the above means testing.
A 50 cent increase would net a bit over 1 billion dollars a year after the exempt population is discounted. This money would go to infrastructure and public transportation.
As revenue falls when more people switch to EVs or take public transportion the could be a surcharge; either means tested or, by miles driven to keep the infrastructure and transportation investments funded.
II wholeheartedly support the TCI
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1/21/2020 |
Debra |
O'Roak |
Town of Sherman |
Sherman |
Maine |
Good morning -
On behalf of the citizens of Sherman, many who travel long distances for employment, I oppose this Initiative. Enactment of this Initiative would be a hardship for... read more Good morning -
On behalf of the citizens of Sherman, many who travel long distances for employment, I oppose this Initiative. Enactment of this Initiative would be a hardship for rural Maine.
We do not have readily available transportation alternatives. Many of the working class are employed by the woods industry. They have to travel to their place of work daily. Are you aware of the distance that these folks travel for employment?
In our community we also have a significant number of elderly citizens who must travel to Bangor for medical treatment. It is 85 miles one way for them to have access to medical care.
In addition to the previous concerns that I have mentioned, think about the increased transportation cost to transport goods & services that we all need. How would the people of our State afford to live in the rural areas? Proposals such as this Initiative make me think about the Native Americans & the Trail of Tears - feels much the same for rural Mainers that have lived here their entire lives. Just another way to force us all out of our small hometowns.
Thank you,
Debra J. O'Roak
Town Manager |
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2/25/2020 |
Tad |
Montgomery |
Town of Hartland |
Hartland |
Vermont |
The Vermont government has been woefully inadequate in its actions to address climate change. We pride ourselves on being progressive and forward-thinking, but in truth we have made almost no... read more The Vermont government has been woefully inadequate in its actions to address climate change. We pride ourselves on being progressive and forward-thinking, but in truth we have made almost no progress whatsoever in addressing global warming over the last 20 years. This is shameful.
I am the Energy and Facilities Manager for Lebanon, NH. I live in and serve the Hartland, VT Energy Committee, and for 14 years served on the Brattleboro Energy Committee. I have been an active member of the VT Energy and Climate Action Network for 15 years, and have been working on energy and climate issues since undergraduate and graduate engineering school. The opportunities that we have lost through inaction are astounding, and future generations will damn us for it.
Vermont is a rural state, with many poor, working people. Reducing our transportation emissions is a huge challenge. Tremendous innovation and creativity will be needed, as well as lifestyle changes. Why is it that when America goes to war people are asked to make sacrifices, but never in the name of saving the planet? 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. I have lived in Mexico, and done it without a car. Why is 3rd world Mexico so much more advanced than America in its public transportation? It is because they dedicate the resources to provide good public transportation. TCI has the potential to direct resources to alternative transportation systems and infrastructure, which would lower people's living expenses and reduce our greenhouse gasses.
TCI provides the opportunity to tackle the biggest problem of our day — climate change — 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 in order to do our part to save our habitable planet for future generations.
Thank you for the work you have done to advance the TCI. |
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2/22/2020 |
Julia |
Griffin |
Town of Hanover, NH |
Hanover |
New Hampshire |
The Town of Hanover, NH became a Ready for 100 community after a popular vote at our May 2017 Town Meeting. We are committed to community-wide 100% reliance on renewable electricity by 2030 and... read more The Town of Hanover, NH became a Ready for 100 community after a popular vote at our May 2017 Town Meeting. We are committed to community-wide 100% reliance on renewable electricity by 2030 and 100% reliance on renewable heating and transportation fuel by 2050. As part of our community's 2050 goal, it is critical that we receive support from the State of New Hampshire through its aggressive implementation of the TCI program. Cities and towns cannot meet the 2030 or 2050 RE100 goals alone....we are heavily dependent on leadership at the state, New England regional, and federal level. Hanover, NH raises its hand in full support of the Transportation and Climate Initiative. |
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12/1/2019 |
robert |
dubois |
town of blackstone |
blackstone |
Massachusetts |
Small bossiness will be hurt , we are located on the Rhode Island border. We voted against this increase 5 years ago. Small bossiness will be hurt , we are located on the Rhode Island border. We voted against this increase 5 years ago. |
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10/14/2020 |
Amanda |
Dewey |
Town of Berwyn Heights |
Berwyn Heights |
Maryland |
I'm writing to encourage a thoughtful approach to equity and transportation in the TCI. In particular, I ask that you include a cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032, an increase in... read more I'm writing to encourage a thoughtful approach to equity and transportation in the TCI. In particular, I ask that you include a cap on carbon emissions of at least 25% by 2032, an increase in the minimum investment in overburdened and underserved communities (>35%), and that investments be put towards active transportation like better sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and high quality public transit. Thank you for taking action to support healthier and more sustainable communities for the future. |
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2/26/2020 |
Maureen |
Hurley |
Topsham |
Topsham |
Vermont |
I think it's vital that we do all we can to mitigate, and work toward stopping climate change by any means. Lives are being lost. Pollution is the cause, has been taking lives for a long time... read more I think it's vital that we do all we can to mitigate, and work toward stopping climate change by any means. Lives are being lost. Pollution is the cause, has been taking lives for a long time and the acceleration is ugly to see. Because it isn't yet so near to us doesn't mean we won't be feeling effects of all kinds as our fellow human beings, and living things in general are forced to flee pr perish.
I have a grown daughter in California who was extremely lucky to escape being burned to death/ It truly brings the situation home and into focus. The costs of paying a carbon tax could be budgeted for by giving up a bad habit or two, also helpful.
I'm wondering what % of VTs Carbon emissions come from that new Burlington airport and the military in general and if they can be made to pay for their emissions as well. I 'm hoping that New Hampshire will get a chance to reformulate their position on this. I think we should carry ahead no matter what.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment. |
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2/21/2020 |
Jacqueline |
Greff |
Tonal Vision LLC |
Baltimore |
Maryland |
Baltimore badly needs better public transit and we almost got it until Gov. Hogan cancelled the Red Line. My husband and I believe so strongly in the importance of transit as a way to improve our... read more Baltimore badly needs better public transit and we almost got it until Gov. Hogan cancelled the Red Line. My husband and I believe so strongly in the importance of transit as a way to improve our cities and the environment that we drive an electric car and created a pro bono video for the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance: https://vimeo.com/261064553 |
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10/14/2020 |
Kevin |
Donnelli |
TO WHOM? |
Rockford |
Illinois |
We NEED clean air!!! We NEED clean air!!! |
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11/2/2019 |
Anna |
Brown |
TNC |
South Freeport |
Maine |
I am fully supportive of TCI and believe this initiative has the potential to help
Maine tackle its transportation-related GHG contributions. I also am excited for the discussion around how... read more I am fully supportive of TCI and believe this initiative has the potential to help
Maine tackle its transportation-related GHG contributions. I also am excited for the discussion around how the funds could be invested to support a just transition to a clean energy economy. |
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