TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

i want cars that will go l00 miles on one gallon of gas and i want that now. i dont want electric vehicles at this time because teh batteires require precious metals which require going to the depths of th eocean to collect them, meaning that area which has not even been explored yet will be decimated. in addition this same preciou smetal used in electric vehicle batteries requires kids of 8 years old in africa to climb into mile deep depths at $.50 cents a day to collect this precious metal. its sick sick sick and pushing electric vehicles with this crap going on for batteries is just revolting.

I am thrilled that this northeast governors group is bipartisan! We can work together to do our part about climate change while the federal government denies and delays. We must reduce our transport emissions. I believe that improving public transport (trains and buses) is vital to save our planet.
A wonderful "side effect" of reducing private car emissions would be a wonderful public transport system. if you want to get people out of their cars we must have an extensive and reliable public transport system. I have wandered all over Europe on public transport and returned to the US saddened by the limited shoddy state of ours. Please Massachusetts (my state) join in this important initiative!

I would mostly like to see drastically improved investments in, and saturation of, public transportation. I applaud this multi-partisan initiative to focus on our inefficient and dangerous fuel consumption and resulting pollution. Our military surely burns a lot, too, we need them to be strong but also not guzzling irresponsibly. Thank you.

Create a marketing plan that speaks to the dire need for the human species to change the way it travels. Transportation with a significantly reduced footprint can reduce monetary investment in maintaining infrastructure. Less taxes. Less stress on all involved systems. The only species on the planet that thinks it needs to move in such an unsustainable and destructive manner is human. It is past time to consider what human beings are bringing to the global table. Lead an "evolution" in changing the way we move.

There are so many possible ways to begin addressing the impact of transportation on climate change, but the important thing is that we begin somewhere. I favor: more charging stations for electric cars and trucks; increased gasoline taxes; and increased support for public transportation, especially high speed rail as an alternative to airplane travel. These are just the low hanging fruit. I hope that many more ideas will emerge.

I strongly urge Governor Hogan to formally join with governors up and down the Atlantic seaboard to develop a plan that creates enforceable limits on transportation pollution and encourages both public and private investment in clean mobility solutions for the region. If we Marylanders are to do our part in cutting carbon and other noxious emissions in order to alleviate their negative impact on climate change and pollution levels, we and our public servants must move swiftly and fearlessly to innovate.

The Trump administration is working tirelessly to THWART all efforts at the federal, regional, state and local levels to cut carbon emissions, to maintain clean air and water, and to mitigate climate change. Therefore, it is imperative that governors as well as other officeholders push back by taking action NOW to implement plans and policies that reduce pollution and carbon emissions, including those emanating from our modes of transportation.

Although each of us must do our part as individuals to tread more lightly on this earth, we, our children, and our grandchildren cannot do it alone. We are depending on our government officials to make the systemic changes necessary, among which is a carbon-free—or at least a low-carbon—emissions transportation system. In creating that system the plans that are implemented must be sure to give priority to those in our communities who presently suffer most from the burden of pollution and lack of access to clean mobility.

I salute the bipartisan group of governors in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region who are banding together to do their part to fight the existential threat to our Earth’s climate and our survival. Therefore, I hope that Governor Hogan will play a strong role in the success of the Transportation and Climate Initiative’s Regional Clean Transportation Plan.

I am a retired engineer who early in my career worked for a state Air Quality Program. I have a BS degree in Meteorology, am quite familiar with regional air quality modeling, and understand all too well the issue of carbon emissions and the impact on climate.

With regard to the approach outlined by the TCI to reduce carbon emissions from the mobile source sector, it is fundamentally flawed.

First, the economic side: A "carbon tax" or "gas tax" is extremely regressive and hurts low-income individual, small business, and rural communities disproportionately. The relatively MINOR emission reductions gained by this approach will do nothing to curve "climate change" and only place an unnecessary burden on low income, rural Mainers. We do not have the ability in this state not to drive. Taxes without representation is a socialist concept, not one of a free society.

Second, the scientific side. To argue that ANY reductions in emissions from the transportation sector will "reverse" climate change is silly and unscientific. To think that if the world were to stop emitting carbon tomorrow (every living organism on the planet would need to stop breathing) and then believing the climate would return to 1800's levels, is farcical. Think about it. Can humans really control the climate? Ridiculous. The biggest fraud on the American public is when the courts ruled that CO2 was an air pollutant! How can that be, when CO2 is merely part of an organism's life cycle. CO2 is not and never should be considered a pollutant. This is a manufactured crisis. If the climate changes, for whatever reason, we adapt. Has happened over the millennium. Humans adapt to their environment, they cannot control it.

SAY NO to this ill-conceived plan. NO TAXES without representation, and CO2 is NOT a pollutant.