TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

My name is Richard Butz, I’m a member of the Bristol, Vermont, Energy Committee, a Board member of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (VTIPL), a Board member of Addison County River Watch Collaborative (ACRWC), a father and grandfather. I’m writing in strong support for Vermont’s participation in the Transportation Climate Initiative.

As a college professor (now retired as an assistant professor of engineering technology), I lectured on building and transportation systems and have been staying up on the environmental and technological aspects of those systems. To me the evidence is clear, while we’re in trouble regarding greenhouse gas emissions, the technology exists, right now, to address them. What’s missing are the will and financial resources. TCI will facilitate change in attitudes and provide funding to encourage sustainable practices while protecting low income vermonters through rebates and incentives. It will result in clean, good paying jobs as we make the necessary transitions.

As a member of the Bristol Energy Committee, I work to plan and implement ways our citizens can achieve the mobility they need, whether it involves frequent and convenient public transportation or finding ways to afford more efficient and affordable personal vehicles. We’ve already benefitted from weatherization programs that have been funded through monies received as a result of the two million dollars Vermont receives each year as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Our Button-up and Window Dressers initiatives are local examples. TCI will function in a similar way to RGGI.

As a person of faith, a progressive church member and a Board member of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light, I advocate for TCI because it is a significant step in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, critical to protecting Creation, something people of faith understand and are called to do. Last Thursday more than fifty members of VTIPL spent the day at the State House in Montpelier, meeting with our legislators to lobby for the first bill of the Global Climate Solutions Act. Imagine our joy when it passed the House with a large majority.

I know that transportation contributes 43% of Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions, and if we are to make any progress in this regard we are going to have to invest in cleaner public transportation modes, particularly in rural locations where driving is a significant factor. As a long-term Prius owner I know how much less gasoline an efficient vehicle uses and its impact on my budget, something that needs to be made available to low income vermonters, and the funding from TCI would assist in that regard.

As a grandfather I fear for our kid’s future. The Fourth National Climate Assessment and the IPCC reports among countless others, make it clear that we have very little time to act. We know from our own experience that we are already experiencing erratic and destructive weather patterns, emergence of tick and mosquito born diseases that we never saw before, and we run the risk of losing our maple trees, having shorter ski seasons, degrading our beautiful streams, rivers and lakes, and the tourism that these resources support. In short, our way of life and the Vermont Brand may be lost. We can’t let that happen.

To be clear, I urge Vermont to join TCI!

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.

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 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.

We can no longer kick the can down the road on this. Human health is not an externality.

There many seniors living in Bellows Falls, VT senior housing facilities. Many no longer drive and depend on calling for rides with local organizations. People living in close access to town shops, library, post office, grocery stores can not walk very far so they take their cars. If we invested in small electric scooters with convienent baskets on them I think a town the size of Bellows Falls could cut down on our carbon footprint quite bit. Personally I would buy a scooter and use it in good weather rather than my car. I could charge my scooter at home however those living in housing would need charging stations and parking space.

PLEASE, Governor Scott, join the Transportation and climate initiative. First of all, it addresses the main problem our generation must solve for our descendants and the world. We should be willing to spend big to solve it, but I believe that this particular initiative will actually pay for itself, that the structure of TCI will return any increase in fuel prices back to all of us ten-fold – through initiatives that promote low emitting transportation and by helping low income Vermonters – just as RGGI has done. So you need not fear it will damage Vermont's economy. In fact, NOT solving our climate crisis would eventually ruin it entirely.

Where TCI came from and where it can take us

This spring, Governor Phil Scott will have the opportunity to strengthen the economy, promote equity, and protect the environment by joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). If he refuses to join our neighbors in the fight against climate pollution, it is very likely that Vermonters will pay higher prices for fossil fuels without receiving any of TCI’s investment benefits.

HISTORY & CONTEXT

In 2008, then-Senator Scott voted to authorize Vermont’s governor to advocate for a regional carbon trading program for transportation fuels.

In the decade since, a bipartisan group of officials from Maine to Virginia have been designing a cap-and-invest program for transportation fuels modeled on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

RGGI was developed as a collaboration between states to reduce climate pollution from coal-fired electric plants. Gov. Jim Douglas led the RGGI negotiations and signed Vermont onto the initiative, and it’s working. In the decade since its launch, CO2 emissions from power plants in the RGGI states have fallen 90% faster than in the rest of country, while economic growth in the region has outpaced the rest of the country by 31%.

Since taking office, Gov. Scott has maintained Vermont’s seat at the TCI negotiating table. In fact, up to this point, the governor and his team have been the only Vermonters at the table. And Gov. Scott's political appointees from VTrans, the Agency of Natural Resources and the Public Service Department recently hosted public meetings on TCI in St. Johnsbury, Manchester Center, Springfield and Burlington.

The draft TCI proposal released by the region's governors late last year proposes a) limiting the flow of fossil fuels into the region, b) requiring fossil fuel companies to purchase allowances for the pollution they cause, and c) using the proceeds to modernize the region’s transportation systems. Their program outline makes clear that governors will establish the regulations for fossil fuel distributors, and then individual state legislatures will craft the investment benefits that best meet their state’s needs.

What are those benefits?

A STRONGER ECONOMY

Vermont will receive back more from TCI than Vermonters put in.

Much like hotel stays and restaurant meals, out-of-state travelers purchase a significant share of the transportation fuels sold in Vermont. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development estimates that 20-25% of transportation fuels are sold to out-of-staters.
If – as is currently contemplated – TCI funds are returned to the state in proportion to the gallons of fuel sold, for every dollar Vermonters pay in pollution allowances the state will receive as much as $1.33 for investments.

Even better, according to TCI researchers, the more aggressive the governors are at limiting fossil fuels, the more our economy will grow.

On the flip side, there is economic risk if Gov. Scott refuses to join TCI. Like RGGI, most of the facilities that will purchase allowances are located outside of Vermont and, according to Commissioner Peter Walke -- Vermont’s lead TCI negotiator, it is “possible and very likely” that these companies will pass on their compliance costs to Vermonters whether or not the state participates. So, to take advantage of TCI’s economic benefits and avoid a situation where Vermonters are paying for infrastructure improvements in other states but not here, Gov. Scott must join the program.

A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT

TCI will reduce pollution – and that will save lives and money.

The Vermont Department of Health recently analyzed what meeting the transportation goals of the Comprehensive Energy Plan would mean by 2050. The benefits include:

• 2,000 lives saved due to cleaner air and safer roads and other benefits; and
• $1.1 billion in costs avoided from reduced health care costs and increased productivity.

TCI puts us on a path to reap those benefits.

EQUITY

A critical component of TCI is that it provides resources to address inequities in Vermonters’ energy burdens.

Low-income and rural Vermonters pay a higher percentage of their incomes on transportation than their wealthier, more urban neighbors. The state can and should address some of this inequity by targeting TCI investments to benefit low-income and rural Vermonters.
Investments can take the form of infrastructure and public transit improvements: things like rural van lines that cover more territory and travel more frequently, expanded park & ride lots, EV charging, bike lanes, sidewalks, and commuter rail.

Other options are incentives, rebates, and targeted tax credits. Think free bus passes, expanding the Energy Assistance Program, tiered incentives for electric vehicles so that those with the least get the most help, or an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit. In British Columbia, a Canadian province that has been pricing carbon pollution for more than a decade, rural citizens qualify for additional tax breaks.

TCI revenues could also be used for cash-back payments that go directly to households based on need.

Of course, policymakers could mix and match proceeds. Some could be used for infrastructure, some for incentives, and some for direct payments to low-income households.

CONCLUSION

The economic, equity, and environmental benefits of TCI far outweigh its costs. In fact, refusing to join TCI means Vermonters will likely pay its costs without receiving any of its benefits.

Gov. Scott should honor his commitments to reduce climate pollution, join TCI, and help modernize Vermont’s transportation systems.

The following comments are on behalf of the Addison County Vermont Regional Planning Commission’s Transportation Advisory Committee to offer public input on the draft Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a regional program to establish a cap on global warming pollution from transportation fuels. We support the goal of limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, and offer the following comments to improve the draft MOU.

In apportioning the regional cap to TCI jurisdictions, the final MOU must take into account existing efforts to curb transportation related greenhouse gas emissions. For example, jurisdictions that already invest heavily in mass transit should not be penalized for prior investments that have reduced emissions.

Section 3 of the MOU discussing Investments and Equity lacks detail. The costs of the program are fairly clear, but the benefits, which should be spelled out in this section, are still vague. It will be extremely important in building political support for the MOU that constituents have a better idea of how the revenue raised will make an impact in their lives.

To that point, it is very important to our constituents that efforts be made to mitigate the impacts of the TCI on low-income populations in rural areas. In rural areas like Addison County, our poorest community members often live far from populations centers. In purchasing vehicles, they rely upon second-hand cars and trucks, and the availability of fuel-efficient vehicles at a low price point in that market is constrained. Some of the revenue raised by the TCI should go to assist this population in transitioning to low emission vehicles and to offset the economic hardship they will face when the cost of fuel increases.

The draft MOU lacks detail on how a Participating Jurisdiction would leave the TCI (Section 5B) and what would happen to allowances auctioned on their behalf. Would those allowances still be honored as in Section 2J – “Participating Jurisdictions shall accept allowances sold or originated in other Participating Jurisdictions”?

We thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft MOU.

My work is in advocating for wood heat as an alternative to fossil fuels. It's a great solution for Vermont that helps to keep forests as forests and displace fossil fuel usage. While my work is helping us to meet our thermal energy goals, we need TCI to help us meet our transportation energy goals, where in Vermont we are woefully behind.

Imagine a world where taking public transit wasn't a compromise reserved for environmentalist martyrs. Where it was clean, convenient, cheap, fast, and pleasant. It's possible, even in a rural place like Vermont, but we need the funds.

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.