TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Reducing pollution from transportation is a key component to reducing Pennsylvania's emissions. Public transit investments that could be made with TCI proceeds would be valuable. Please choose the aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that the most recent climate science tells us we need. Policy should prioritize clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices.

Too many of our public buses and trains run on dirty energy and contribute to air pollution and climate change. Many trains, buses, and stations haven’t been retrofitted in decades. For many people in rural parts of our states, there are zero viable public transportation options, which forces them to drive.

By making polluters pay and creating a dedicated source of funding through TCI, we’ll finally be able to move our state to a 21st-century regional transportation system that is cleaner, more reliable, more accessible, and more affordable. We’ll see less traffic, thousands of new jobs, and less dangerous air pollution. All communities — whether urban, suburban, or rural — will benefit.

Our air is making too many of us sick — and if history is a guide, it’s not going to get better on its own. We need to take bold and concerted action to reduce the carbon impact of our transportation system, and TCI’s combination of using pricing policies that discourage polluters and modernizing our public transportation system will do exactly that.

Gov. Mills, you should take a trip to this way down east corner of the state. Washington County can not afford to go along with this. There is no public transportation here, and most of us have to drive at least 2 hours for medical appointments. We are very limited on our shopping choices here, as it is, and this will make it even more difficult on a population that is mainly those on limited incomes as it is. An elderly gentleman told me many moons ago that "Washington County is the dumping ground for the poor, the elderly and the handicapped". For the most part this still holds true, 40 years later. Please do not become part of this and make it even harder for those of us who live here and have no finances to escape.

Maine is a rural state. Many of it's citizens travel 20+ miles to work or to obtain basic necessities. There are no taxi's, ubers, bus routes. It's aging population and traditional industries can not afford higher taxes of any kind much less on gas and diesel. Take Maine out of the TCI!

Climate initiative needs to be handled from all kinds of different angles. An important one is the ability to bring back sidewalks in neighborhoods and bike paths in towns and cities. Children living close to their school should be able to walk or bike safely to their schools, less school buses. Yes in wintertime it is difficult but somehow for many decades we were able to get our kids to school without school buses.

Education of the public to combine errands.

Maine people deserve safe, clean, modern transportation solutions that are affordable, reliable, and reduce air pollution.
We need transportation solutions that deliver real economic, environmental, and community benefits. The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), has gained widespread momentum over the past few months and our family supports this important, and potentially historic climate policy. With the climate crisis fully underway we must support clean transportation solutions!

Our outdated transportation system is Maine’s largest source of climate pollution—and it doesn’t even meet the needs of Maine people. Maine people deserve clean, modern, affordable transportation options that deliver economic, health, and climate benefits to local communities. Finally, tt makes perfect sense for Maine to work with neighboring states through TCI’s bipartisan, proven policy model.
TCI will be in development for many months, but the core idea is based on the tremendously successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Through RGGI, Northeastern states dramatically reduced power plant pollution and generated revenue Maine has used to support energy efficiency and weatherization investments through Efficiency Maine. Applying the same “cap and invest” approach to transportation would help Maine redirect some of the $5 billion a year we send out of state to fossil fuel companies into our local communities and sustainable transportation solutions.

Mainers overwhelmingly support bipartisan, science-based, regional solutions to our big transportation and climate challenges and we hope that you will too!

In this state of Mass. we have raised taxes to fix the climate dilema a few times already. Leave our personal money alone. You are forcing all of us to move to Florida, the tax free state.

I am totally against the TCI unrepresented taxation bill for MA taxpayers. The sleazy, underhanded method of trying to sneak through something that was voted down in 2014 is the last straw. We need YOU to demand a vote and then vote this down. NO TAXATION of something we need to earn a living!

It’s wrong for the Governor to pursue this tax increase without a legislative vote. Lawmakers are being completely excluded from the process, despite this being the exact task they were elected to carry out.

This measure will do nothing but rob every citizen of their money. Government has already proven to not be good stewards of taxpayer money. Maine already has high energy costs. Citizens will be forced to move.