TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I am very opposed to Vermont's participation in the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative. As much as I have heard from Vermont officials, both legislators and office holders, that it is not a carbon tax, it is obviously a carbon tax by what ever name they want to label it. Since Vermont is all ready one of the highest tax paying states in the union, with one of the lowest carbon foot prints all ready there is no need to further increase the tax burden on Vermonter's. Especially for an expensive program that will have no significant impact on the climate. T.C.I. will only serve to increase government cost and bureaucracy, at a time when we should be reducing both to make Vermont affordable again. The scale of the program will lead to further government waste and abuse of resources. As one Vermont Senator, a leading proponent stated the "money will be off the books"! Can such a statement of a government official not scare anyone!
As with any government program T.C.I. will only be distributing a fraction of the funds collected back to the states. After paying exorbitant salaries and administrative fees, what percentage of the revenues collected will actually be returned to the claimed reinvest?
On top of T.C.I.'s cost and impact to Vermonter's directly, the secondary cost of increases for every goods and services required by Vermonter's will see increases!
Concluding, T.C.I. is a terrible idea.

We all need to get on the ball and do everything recommended by the Union of Concerned Scientists. NOW!!!

We all must face the future and the inevitable changes coming with Climate Change/Global Warming. One area is transportation. Public transport must be made available, must be user friendly, must be affordable.

low-carbon transportation policy proposal that would cap and reduce carbon emissions from the combustion of transportation fuels through a cap-and-invest program or other pricing mechanism… [and]… to complete the policy development process within one year, after which each jurisdiction will decide whether to adopt and implement the policy.”

There is no single thing we can do to stop climate change, but if we do many things we can slow it. Please do anything, no- EVERYTHING, you can to slow the impending disasters.

Look at CA and their gas prices. The average today is a little over $4/gal. Here in ME, it's around $2.50/gal. We are a poor state in comparison with an elderly, retired population on fixed incomes. Implementing policies that simply increase our energy costs is just wrong.

The voters, after being heavily outspent by government supported advertising, voted down the last automatically increasing gas tax scheme. How fast will business be leaving the state if this backdoor tax proposal goes into effect. Why listen to the voters faker, i mean Baker, when you.re to busy pandering to the global warming socialists.

Dear Governor Baker:
I applaud your initiative to take aggressive action to reduce transportation emissions. Scientists say that we do in the next 10 years will make the difference between a liveable and an unimaginably bad climate. There is great urgency to bring down emissions, because we've waited so long to get serious about tackling the problem. This isn't a reason to give up, it's a call to get more aggressive.

We must build modern, fast, affordable public transportation to and from Boston from semi-rural areas like Plymouth in order to get people out of cars. I used to live in Newton and work in Cambridge. A year or two before I retired, we moved to Plymouth in search of affordable retirement housing. Commuting from Plymouth to Cambridge was a nightmare, 2 hours each way when travel to the Kingston train station is included. I found the commuter rail an overall pleasant if costly experience. Including parking and MBTA to Cambridge, it was about $29/day. How many workers can afford $145/week for commuting? No wonder the parking lot never filled up. We need more trains and cheaper fares, and you'll see train ridership spike up to capacity.

I also strongly support dedicated bus lanes on route 3 for the Plymouth & Brockton bus company. How about electric buses? Adding buses requires a lot less capital than enhancing rail lines -- though we need to do both. The bus is another attractive way to get to Boston from the Cape and South Shore, but buses clogged in route 3 traffic degrade the experience. If you drive alone, there isn't any of the thrill of the open road you see in car commercials. Commuters would gladly ditch cars if they could have fast, affordable buses that get them to a South Station that has fast, reliable service to Boston locations. It is absurd to expect the MBTA to fix existing problems and make capital improvements while being saddled with the debt of the Big Dig. The MBTA should be subsidized by the state to make it better. Long term, maybe the MBTA is unsustainable, but it's the way I got around in Boston the 6 years I lived there without a car.

We also need to encourage EV vehicles, with more charging stations and better incentives. The $7500 fed tax credit is gone for the most popular EV cars - this sends absolutely the wrong message. EV vehicles could be allowed to use the fast bus lanes.

I know the south shore best, but such transport improvements are needed in the entire state. Fast train from Boston to Worcester? Outstanding! Congestion pricing on the Pike? Yes!

So I support TCI and more. Thank you for showing leadership.

Sincerely, Linda Lancaster
South Shore & Cape Chapter, Citizens' Climate Lobby

I am in favor of the strongest possible measures to reduce Vermont’s part in carbon in missions.