TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I certainly understand the desire for all public servants associated with the TCI to act with the best of intentions and I appreciate your willingness to serve the public to the best of your abilities. I ask you to please consider that I am a PhD Chemist with decades of experience and knowledge about the effects of CO2 concentrations on climate change. I have applied to the IPCC as an editor for the Assessment Report 6, I have spoken about the chemistry behind CO2 driven climate change all over the country, and I have a level of expertise in this area that stems from decades of research, educational training and experience.

I am commenting here to make sure that you are made aware that main stream media accounts of CO2 and climate change are not accurate. It is a scientific fact that CO2 both absorbs and radiates infra red energy. The extent that this particular attribute of CO2 influences global temperatures is still a matter of considerable debate - despite what you are being told and what you read in the media. Climate change predictions rely on secondary feedbacks to account for the vast majority of predicted warming. These feedbacks are controversial amongst those of us who look at the issue with complete intellectual honesty. The feedbacks may lead to more warming, but they may not. When we hear statements like the science is settled and 97% of scientists agree that CO2 causes warming, these statements are only true for the RELATIVE impact of CO2 on temperature and climate. The absolute influence of atmospheric CO2 concentration is absolutely NOT settled, NOT quantified and NOT well understood. How the impact of CO2 concentration on temperature compares with periodic changes in ocean circulation, solar activity, and geothermal fluctuations is still very much a matter for debate. The coming decades may see warming due to increasing CO2 concentrations, but they may also see cooling due to ocean and solar effects despite rapidly increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. There is absolutely not a scientific consensus on this point, and when people try to extend the scientific consensus from a relative impact of CO2 to an absolute impact, they are being disingenuous.

Given this situation, I ask you to abandon plans to limit CO2 emissions. Doing so only limits the ability of our society to live prosperous lives. The societal benefits from this initiative are insignificant, but the societal detriments are very significant. I see a high likelihood of unintended consequences that end up doing far more damage to the environment than business as usual CO2 emissions. For this reason I urge you to abandon this plan.

I support the Transportation and Climate initiative. Maine is in great need of workable transportation solutions. We need public transportation through out the state but we do not want to increase the pollution caused by fossil fuel driven vehicles. We need creative solutions to get people where they need to go without everyone having to have a car themselves. This probably means a subsidized system since the rural nature of Maine means that often there are not enough people in one place to make a profit making system viable. Transportation however is key to providing jobs and getting people to medical appointments and should not be seen as a privilege of those who can afford it or live in a place which can support a profit making enterprise. Moreover, private enterprise is less likely to want to ensure a system that does not add to the pollution of the atmosphere. Plese come up with new and creative public options.

I am strongly in favor of the TCI and urge Massachusetts to implement it regardless of how many other states join now vs. join later.

The TCI should apply to ALL transportation fossil fuels including for personal cars, company cars and vans, corporate fleets, on-demand transportation (taxis, etc.), delivery vans, trucking, freight trains, municipal and state-owned vehicles, federal vehicles within the geographic scope of the TCI, mass transit vehicles -- including ferries and school buses -- whether public or private, personal watercraft, fishing boats, cruise ships, freight shipping, other freshwater and saltwater transportation, aircraft of all kinds including drones, and all other fossil fuel use for transportation.

The goal of the TCI isn't to stop people from traveling, but rather to shift people toward lower carbon transportation. Many people currently have no alternative to driving. As a matter of equity, it's important for much of the monies raised by TCI to be applied to rebates and subsidies for electric or plug-in hybrids especially in rural areas, for public transit everywhere, and where possible, for small businesses both on-shore and in local waters. As a further matter of equity, we should take some of the cost savings from improved health due to reduced fossil pollution and apply it to further assist people who are hit hardest by fuel price increases due to the TCI, whether through additional support for greener transportation and mass transportation, or in other ways such as increased health care subsidies.

Climate change is a huge problem. The TCI is just one part of the solution. We should implement the TCI while also implementing many other solutions. Preferably some that bear fruit faster than the TCI, since Massachusetts is faltering right now due to slow and failing transportation.

It is a great first step in cooperation and recognizing the importance of reducing carbon emissions.