TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

If you look at recent scientific studies from several countries and hundreds of scientists and NASA you will see that man caused climate change or crisis is false. Even the ounder of Greenpeace has come to this factual conclusion.
This compact is only about putting another tax for government spending on us and about controlling our lives.
What exactly would the money be used for that would in fact change the climate?
The United States is the cleanest country in the world.
China and India are huge polluters and you taking more money out of our pockets will not do one thing to change China or India.
Maine is one of the cleanest states in the US. We are also one of the poorest. The last thing we need is to be made poorer and made poorer over something as phony as the climate change hoax.

The TCI should not be enacted for several reasons.

#1 It will not bring any financial gain to the Maine economy.
#2 Rural workers cannot afford higher gasoline/diesel prices for their work commutes.
#3 Forcing Mainers to pay for pollutants carried from other states is almost laughable. This state being mostly rural with few "metropolitan" areas (if one was to call them such) is I dare say one of the 'cleanest air' states in the Nation.

The TCI is NOT for Maine nor Mainers.

Enough taxes in Massachusetts already, cut some "fluff" jobs from the payrolls, eliminate a few pensions. In general get your house in order. Do your job and spare us retirees the hardship of mpre taxes.
Do something, anything to find the money we keep pouring into the giant sieve called state government. Cut the pork out of your own budget as there is none left in mine.

We all need to be conscious in our choices of what vehicles we drive and ride around in. I have a standard shift Honda Civic and I love it, it's not new actually it was born in the year 2000. I do not trust new cars. Too complicated with computers and I have the idea of a driver-less car.
I'm all for making an effort to pollute less, much less.

We need a plan that holds large transportation polluters accountable for the pollution they create and invests in clean transportation solutions including:

More public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure in rural areas
Expansion of commuter rail, electric vehicles, and streets in the suburbs that are safe, walkable, and bikeable
Sustainable and equitable housing near transit and electric bus fleets in urban communities

I am opposed to this increase in gas tax. I am a one income family of five and this will not help people like me in obtaining a newer lower carbon vehicle. Although the amount of tax may seem small it has large impacts to families like mine. This will also not curb the amount of travel I will be doing as I work six days a week and can’t afford time off to even travel in state.

Transportation is the number one source of climate pollution in the United States. In order to cut emissions, and to slow the impact of global warming, we need to reimagine the way that we transport people and goods.

The states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the city of Washington, D.C., are working on a groundbreaking policy to modernize the transportation sector under the Transportation and Climate Initiative.

We need a plan that holds large transportation polluters accountable for the pollution they create and invests in clean transportation solutions including:
• More public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure in rural areas
• Expansion of commuter rail, electric vehicles, and streets in the suburbs that are safe, walkable, and bikeable
• Sustainable and equitable housing near transit and electric bus fleets in urban communities

I fully support this and I urge TCI to aggressively promote and adopt innovative initiatives. I live in a suburb of Boston, where traffic is terrible and public transit is, too! For the most part, unless we work in downtown Boston or Worcester, we are forced to drive. We need alternatives that allow growth and economic vitality with minimal additional pollution.

There is no "Climate Crisis" or "Climate Emergency"! Stop the fear mongering. Vermont has an "Affordability Crisis" that needs attention. It's time to address what matters most to Vermonters such as lowering the cost of living by eliminating the state pension shortfall and lowering high property taxes and healthcare premiums.

Your TCI is intended to make purchasing transportation fuels so painfully expensive that the astronomically high price discourages people from buying it. In short, consumers will have to pay more at the pump to fund increased government spending. Make no mistake, this is a tax. More precisely, it is a carbon dioxide tax being implemented through a gas tax.

But, unlike motor fuel taxes levied to pay for roads, bridges, and transportation infrastructure (a reasonable fee for use), the TCI would be the equivalent of a “sin tax” – a penalty for engaging in bad behavior. I do not believe that driving to and for work, transporting children to school, transporting goods, going to the grocery store, and all the other necessary activities that generally require a vehicle should be treated by governments as a sin. These are not activities people can, or should be forced to, avoid.