TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I am OPPOSED to the Transportation Climate Initiative. I'm having a hard enough time affording gas to get to and from my job. Besides, have you looked at California, lately? Do we really want to imitate them?

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

Please help us invest in clean, efficient public transportation - critical for our global competitiveness. Anyone who has traveled in Europe is embarrassed with the lack of good public transportation in the U.S.

I ask for:

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

According to a recently released study by Harvard and other institutions, if the program is designed appropriately, up to 1,100 lives can be saved annually, and the region could see $11 billion in health benefits each year.

I’d like to submit a comment in support of the Transportation & Climate Initiative.
First, reducing pollution from transportation is a key component to reducing Pennsylvania's emissions. There are numerous benefits to Pennsylvania and the entire Northeastern United States in cutting emissions and the subsequent formation of toxic greenhouse gases; public transit investments that could be made with TCI proceeds would be valuable and could be reinvested to develop further climate saving, greenhouse gas reducing programs throughout the region, protecting our children and the elderly from the choking greenhouse gases that have been linked to increased rates of respiratory disease, have been shown to affect the birth weight and overall fetal health in our region and darken skies with clouds of smog that are brimming full of dangerous chemicals that collect on our skin, in our hair, contaminate our fresh water supply and adversely affect the health of livestock grown for human consumption in the region.
I ask, that as the leaders responsible for effecting change, you choose the aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that the most recent climate science tells us we need. I also urge you to adopt policy that prioritizes clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices.
The time to act is now! I’d like to point out that change has been a long time in coming, and it takes progressive, forward-thinking policy makers that agree with the urgency of the situation and are bold enough to perhaps step outside of their comfort zones in order to make meaningful change possible.

Please develop and implement a policy that caps/reduces carbon emissions from transportation

I am not in favor of passing this tax. And I am certainly not in favor of not letting a vote taken to either pass or reject this initiative.