TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

The latest science says that glaciers are melting faster than expected and the permafrost is also melting fast, created methane emissions. We need carbon reduction on a very large scale. Please consider this matter urgently.

Transportation and Climate Initiative:
Time to stop rising taxes and adding new ones. Massachusetts residents, who drive pay gas tax, federal gas tax, tax on car yearly, sales tax. When purchase a car,yearly inspection tax,yearly registration tax, local tax. Please,This State has gotten paid so much tax ;yet nothing its done.Only creating new buildings,leaving streets with holds, and if it is fix the holes get back again.Never fix pothold; that won't brake at least for 5 years.Buses still spread fumes. I believe that sense 2016 nothing has change that ;truly makes sense.Ms.Maria Celia Hernandez 2/2020

As an Economist, having worked in the Energy and Environmental fields specifically for over a decade, I am well aware that mechanisms like the TCI are well-designed policies that have proven records of success. RGGI boasts reduced emissions as well as economic benefits for the regional participants. Transportation is the sector most in need of policy focus for emissions reductions, and we need every tool in our quiver to arrive at a zero-emissions future. The TCI is a necessary part of that progression. I strongly support the TCI as a citizen, an environmentalist, and as an economist.

Transportation is a major contributing factor to climate change and the environment, and it is critical that we do everything within out power to reduce the impact of our transit.

That means immediately prioritizing moving people over moving cars. We need to invert our spending, and spend more on micro-mobility (bike and scooter only paths/roads), walking, and mass transit (trains, separated bus lanes, etc.)

Further, communities like mine, in Malden, have serious health concerns because we're surround by roads. Instead of people commuting through our town by car, it is only just to switch it out and have them commute through our community via bikes.

This is critical. And urgent. Please set policy accordingly.

I am a proud young resident of Massachusetts. I have lived all across the Northeast, in Southern Vermont, Saratoga Springs, NY, and now Boston. Transportation has looked incredibly different for me in each place I've lived, from car travel to bus travel to walking to the oldest public transit system in the Northern Hemisphere. As the biggest source of emissions, transportation is a clear lever we have as a state to make huge changes while also bringing in capital for investing directly in our transit. I'm incredibly grateful to Governor Baker for his bold leadership and support regarding TCI, as it would provide a clear path towards both positioning Massachusetts as a forward thinking leader in the Northeast as well as in the United States on the whole. I respectfully urge Massachusetts to formally join the initiative and that we pursue the most aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets. All the science tell us that we need this, for the good of our planet and in order for young people everywhere to hope for a livable future. I would also emphasize the importance that the policy prioritizes clean investment for communities that bear a disproportionate burden of accelerating pollution as well as for areas where people are unable to access public transportation, such as my extremely remote home state of Vermont where viable options are largely unavailable as well as in low income communities, the children of which have been found to have comparatively high levels of asthma (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2740858/). I know that a better future is possible, and I believe TCI is one of the best options we have to drive forward serious change. Thank you for your consideration.

There are several reasons why I am in favor of implementing TCI:
1) As a resident in the Boston metropolitan area, I am deeply aware of the traffic at all times of day and night. It is becoming a true detriment to work, play, and everyday life. TCI will provide revenues to help incentivize residents out of their cars and into public transit.
2) By improving public transit, we would be reducing emissions and GHGs helping both health related illnesses and the climate.
3) TCI can deeply address the inequities of both the income divide and rural transportation needs. Why can't there be affordable rural public transit, incentives for electric vehicles and getting old and dirty trucks off the road? EV rebates for turning in a gas guzzling truck, school bus, or municipal fleets? Why not?

TCI can address these and other transportation related concerns if implemented as soon as possible.

I applaud the leadership of Gov. Charlie Baker on this issue and encourage him and other governors to act in sync with courage and responsibility to extend whatever means we can for the next generation.

Thank you,
Jenny Russell

I believe that the issue of climate change is one of the most significant issues that we face and that reducing pollution from transportation is an excellent way to help deal with it. I appreciate Governor Baker's leadership in this area and urge that Massachusetts formally join the Transportation and Climate Initiative.

Pollution is making it harder to live on earth. With more & more species extinct every year soon it will be hard for humans to live on earth.
Gov Baker please support and accelerate this Climate & Transportation Initiative.
I would suggest more clean investments in areas with the most pollution and helping folks who have less access to transportation choices.