TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I support TCI because our future and the earth itself hang in the balance. Please include more options for those of us living in the suburbs! More park and ride options, and greater frequency of service would be a terrific encouragement for us, as well.

I support TCI because, as an asthmatic, I find it important to reduce tailpipe emissions, which contribute to asthma and other health problems. In addition, I feel that it is important to reduce emissions of greenhouse emissions from all sources, including the important transportation sector, to mitigate climate change.

I support TCI because transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in my state and we have to act on climate.

I support TCI because transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in my state and we have to act on climate.

The Sierra Club is sharing the attached 87 comments from our members and supporters in Rhode Island supporting finalizing the Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Thank you for helping to design a regional policy to limit climate pollution from motor fuels and invest in a modern, clean, transportation future. The evidence is clear: the more we limit pollution from motor fuels, the more jobs are created, the more the economy grows, and the more lives we save. Please sign on to the agreement to implement a strong, equitable regional climate protection policy through TCI. Invest in the communities that have suffered the most from burning gasoline and have the least access to clean transportation options. Stop sending our hard-earned dollars out of the state to oil companies, and choose to create jobs, grow the economy, and save lives for families and businesses. Thank you.

We should all I favor TCI for many reasons.

We know that the combustion of diesel fuel and gasoline in cars, trucks, and trains is increasing the prevalence of asthma and heart disease and is costing millions of dollars in extra healthcare costs. We know that gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles are currently the major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Rhode Island. We know they have greatly contributed to our historic emissions of those long-lived pollutants. When products cause public harm, it is sensible public policy to charge the suppliers of those products or to tax the consumers of those products. I favor TCI because it imposes a fee on the suppliers of products that cause public harm.

None of us like sitting in traffic. None of us like hunting for a parking spot. None of us like paying to park our cars in Providence or at the beach. Most of us would prefer fast, frequent, convenient, clean, and affordable public transit to those destinations. We who enjoy bicycling and running do not like riding and running on streets where we are at risk from motor vehicles; we would prefer more, safer, better paths for bikes and runners. A lack of money is keeping us from having the things we would prefer. I favor TCI because it will provide money for better public transit and safer streets and paths.

I favor TCI because it will provide the incentives needed to build the new electric infrastructure we will need and want.

Electric cars are cheaper to operate and maintain, quieter, more convenient, and more fun to drive. Electric trucks and buses will be better neighbors. EVs will soon cost no more than conventional vehicles. And yet, many people have no place they could charge an EV -- not where they work, and not where they sleep. There is a lot of work to be done building that charging infrastructure, and lots of workers will be needed. TCI will help local businesses and local workers.

As an engineer and the founder of a Rhode Island company that employs over 50 people, I know that transitions from one era to another create opportunities for new business growth and new careers. We are clearly in the early stage of a rapid transition in how we generate and use energy. We can continue to bleed billions of dollars a year away to fossil fuel providers outside our state, or we can take sensible steps to wean ourselves off those polluting fuels and facilitate the transition to a cleaner, cheaper, better, more beautiful future. TCI is a sensible step.

Putting a big battery in every garage and driveway will be a good way to soak up low cost energy from solar panels and wind turbines when those generators peak. Increasing electricity consumption will help to lower the cost per kWh. TCI will cause both things to occur faster.

I applaud the public servants and private sector experts who have worked so hard on TCI thus far, and I hope that our legislators and fellow citizens will strongly support the adoption of this new policy.

As a 4th year medical student receiving a Public Health degree, I support TCI because climate change is real, it is occurring now, and it is having significant health and quality-of-life impacts on people both around the world and in my state. Fighting climate change is the right thing to do ethically and economically.

I support TCI because transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in my state and we have to act now to fight the climate crisis; because the current status quo concentrates emissions and health complications in already overburdened communities; and because building these new transportation solutions will be a huge investment in the economy, following in the footsteps of New Deal style policy!

Than you for your consideration.