TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Climate change has been going on since the existence of earth. Sometimes climate change is in the cooling direction to generate an Ice Age. Sometimes it heats up to boil everything off the planet. Either of these events is a restart for fauna and flora on the planet. We have been in the warming phase since the last ice age. Unless you know how to stop this process, humans have been around for an almost immeasurably small part, you are on an exercise in futility and I don't want spend resources that will not help.

I strongly support the TCI to give folks an incentive to buy electric and high efficiency cars and public transport. We have to time to waste.

It is getting late in the game. Administrators need to stop dragging their feet and come up with meaningful measures to cut carbon emissions.
The future is in your hands!

This is to urge the design of a regional low-carbon transportation policy proposal that would cap and reduce carbon emissions from the combustion of transportation fuels through a cap-and-invest program or other pricing mechanism… [and]… to complete the policy development process within one year, after which each jurisdiction will decide whether to adopt and implement the policy.

With each passing day it becomes more important for us to limit pollution and help reverse the course of climate change.

I urge investment in mass transit and the infrastructure needed for electric vehicles. we need to protect and upgrade clean car standards

It is critical we reduce our carbon emissions quickly, in that climate change is moving faster than expected ,, as measured by accelerated melting of the polar ice caps, the increased burning of forests and extreme weather events.

I want to voice my support for this initiative, which I hope will decrease the use of carbon-based fuels by pricing them to reflect at least some of their external costs. For me the projected at-the-gas-pump price increases that have been bandied about in the media (well shy of 25 cents per gallon) are in fact all too modest to represent much of a price signal at all, especially given the large fluctuations in fuel prices that everyone has endured over the last twenty years, and the current low prices.

At the same time I recognize that many people are not able easily to absorb even small increases in fuel costs, and so this initiative must include a very strong equity component. Housing costs force trade-offs in commuting distances. Beyond applying revenues from this initiative to mitigation of carbon fuels' external costs generally, a substantial portion of the revenues should be directed toward mitigation of disadvantaged populations' costs specifically.

Such mitigation could take the form of support for affordable housing that allows shorter commutes (enlarged rental voucher programs, direct subsidizing of affordable housing construction, for example). It could take the form of support for dramatically expanded public transit options, although this approach seems likely to bypass large geographic areas that have no existing public transit framework upon which to build. It could take the form of additional incentives for gas-efficient vehicles. It could even take the form of odometer-based tax credits available to low-income filers, which, being based on miles traveled rather than fuel consumed, would still reward the use of low-emission and zero-emission vehicles.

This equity concern strikes me as particularly important for the Massachusetts governor in view of the public stance that he has taken on the inequitable nature of congestion pricing schemes.

I will be impressed and supportive of any administration that supports an initiative such as this one. In my view we are years behind where we should be. It is long past the time where we can afford to reject proposals because they are not perfect in every respect. We are at a point where we must move forward and try something, doing our best to provide flexibility to adjust as we assess our progress. Please be bold!

We need politicians to do everything possible to get us off ALL FOSSIL FUELS. Promoting solar and wind energy systems needs to be added as pillars to TCI, in order to have a multi-tiered approach to immediately addressing climate change. The current TCI format os not enough.

I believe that all states contemplating any gas tax increase must consider all the cost increases that would be generated. Such as shipping,gas fuel delivery,home heating services,mail,air travel,all service parts and most important grocery price increases. The states should inform the public that it is not necessary to preheat your vehicle prior to driving. Your vehicle will warm up in five to ten minutes faster at a normal speed. The senior citizens who are on a very strict budget will be effected the most, we do not get automatic increase on our retirement, as many of the politicians do. The public is sick and tired for being taken advantage of by the politicians who's salary is paid for by the citizen that elect them in the first place. Thank you, Bill