TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

It just makes sense to convert as much transportation to electric as possible. Not only environmentally but financially in the long run.

I'd like to express support for the Transportation and Climate Initiative. 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 extremely valuable in reducing pollution. I urge you to choose the aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that the most recent climate science tells us we need. I also request that the policy prioritizes clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices.

Where TCI came from and where it can take us

This spring, Governor Phil Scott will have the opportunity to strengthen the economy, promote equity, and protect the environment by joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). If he refuses to join our neighbors in the fight against climate pollution, it is very likely that Vermonters will pay higher prices for fossil fuels without receiving any of TCI’s investment benefits.

HISTORY & CONTEXT

In 2008, then-Senator Scott voted to authorize Vermont’s governor to advocate for a regional carbon trading program for transportation fuels.

In the decade since, a bipartisan group of officials from Maine to Virginia have been designing a cap-and-invest program for transportation fuels modeled on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

RGGI was developed as a collaboration between states to reduce climate pollution from coal-fired electric plants. Gov. Jim Douglas led the RGGI negotiations and signed Vermont onto the initiative, and it’s working. In the decade since its launch, CO2 emissions from power plants in the RGGI states have fallen 90% faster than in the rest of country, while economic growth in the region has outpaced the rest of the country by 31%.

Since taking office, Gov. Scott has maintained Vermont’s seat at the TCI negotiating table. In fact, up to this point, the governor and his team have been the only Vermonters at the table. And Gov. Scott's political appointees from VTrans, the Agency of Natural Resources and the Public Service Department recently hosted public meetings on TCI in St. Johnsbury, Manchester Center, Springfield and Burlington.

The draft TCI proposal released by the region's governors late last year proposes a) limiting the flow of fossil fuels into the region, b) requiring fossil fuel companies to purchase allowances for the pollution they cause, and c) using the proceeds to modernize the region’s transportation systems. Their program outline makes clear that governors will establish the regulations for fossil fuel distributors, and then individual state legislatures will craft the investment benefits that best meet their state’s needs.

What are those benefits?

A STRONGER ECONOMY

Vermont will receive back more from TCI than Vermonters put in.

Much like hotel stays and restaurant meals, out-of-state travelers purchase a significant share of the transportation fuels sold in Vermont. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development estimates that 20-25% of transportation fuels are sold to out-of-staters.
If – as is currently contemplated – TCI funds are returned to the state in proportion to the gallons of fuel sold, for every dollar Vermonters pay in pollution allowances the state will receive as much as $1.33 for investments.

Even better, according to TCI researchers, the more aggressive the governors are at limiting fossil fuels, the more our economy will grow.

On the flip side, there is economic risk if Gov. Scott refuses to join TCI. Like RGGI, most of the facilities that will purchase allowances are located outside of Vermont and, according to Commissioner Peter Walke -- Vermont’s lead TCI negotiator, it is “possible and very likely” that these companies will pass on their compliance costs to Vermonters whether or not the state participates. So, to take advantage of TCI’s economic benefits and avoid a situation where Vermonters are paying for infrastructure improvements in other states but not here, Gov. Scott must join the program.

A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT

TCI will reduce pollution – and that will save lives and money.

The Vermont Department of Health recently analyzed what meeting the transportation goals of the Comprehensive Energy Plan would mean by 2050. The benefits include:

• 2,000 lives saved due to cleaner air and safer roads and other benefits; and
• $1.1 billion in costs avoided from reduced health care costs and increased productivity.

TCI puts us on a path to reap those benefits.

EQUITY

A critical component of TCI is that it provides resources to address inequities in Vermonters’ energy burdens.

Low-income and rural Vermonters pay a higher percentage of their incomes on transportation than their wealthier, more urban neighbors. The state can and should address some of this inequity by targeting TCI investments to benefit low-income and rural Vermonters.
Investments can take the form of infrastructure and public transit improvements: things like rural van lines that cover more territory and travel more frequently, expanded park & ride lots, EV charging, bike lanes, sidewalks, and commuter rail.

Other options are incentives, rebates, and targeted tax credits. Think free bus passes, expanding the Energy Assistance Program, tiered incentives for electric vehicles so that those with the least get the most help, or an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit. In British Columbia, a Canadian province that has been pricing carbon pollution for more than a decade, rural citizens qualify for additional tax breaks.

TCI revenues could also be used for cash-back payments that go directly to households based on need.

Of course, policymakers could mix and match proceeds. Some could be used for infrastructure, some for incentives, and some for direct payments to low-income households.

CONCLUSION

The economic, equity, and environmental benefits of TCI far outweigh its costs. In fact, refusing to join TCI means Vermonters will likely pay its costs without receiving any of its benefits.

Gov. Scott should honor his commitments to reduce climate pollution, join TCI, and help modernize Vermont’s transportation systems.

Clean air is beyond politics. Act now to ensure the future of a healthy environment.

There is no "Climate Crisis" or "Climate Emergency"! Stop the fear mongering. Vermont has an "Affordability Crisis" that needs attention. It's time to address what matters most to Vermonters such as lowering the cost of living by eliminating the state pension shortfall and lowering high property taxes and healthcare premiums.

Your TCI is intended to make purchasing transportation fuels so painfully expensive that the astronomically high price discourages people from buying it. In short, consumers will have to pay more at the pump to fund increased government spending. Make no mistake, this is a tax. More precisely, it is a carbon dioxide tax being implemented through a gas tax.

But, unlike motor fuel taxes levied to pay for roads, bridges, and transportation infrastructure (a reasonable fee for use), the TCI would be the equivalent of a “sin tax” – a penalty for engaging in bad behavior. I do not believe that driving to and for work, transporting children to school, transporting goods, going to the grocery store, and all the other necessary activities that generally require a vehicle should be treated by governments as a sin. These are not activities people can, or should be forced to, avoid.

100% of everyone's efforts is necessary to divert the remaining climate crises. This isn't something we should think about. This isn't something we should consider or deliberate on. This is something that is 100% mandatory if we are to save our own species from the most devastating and miserable future imaginable. Those that survive climate caused sickness, war, and natural disasters will live in environmental poverty and extreme stress. I don't have children because our future is too bleak to have them. Near eight billion makes my own children nothing special. Not at all. Just more stress on an overcrowded, gobbled up, desolate planet with a bleak and terrifying future. You MUST go 100% fossil free. There's really no more time or options. That's really it.

A tax by another name...to steal from Shakespeare, like Mass Government steals from its people. It appears I’ve been elevated to “stakeholder” status when you want to pass this tax in disguise. Otherwise, I’m unimportant. However, I do have a law degree and passed constitutional law classes. This is a tax imposed on the people without benefit of debate or vote, i.e., taxation without representation. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves, but I get it, the “woke” climate of today is something you can capitalize on and use it to grab some more money supposedly because you care about the environment. HA! I OPPOSE THE TCI TAX.

TCI is a once in a generation opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and raise much needed revenue to modernize our transportation system on a regional scale. Unreliable transit is taking time residents should be spending at work or with their families. Those without choices have to drive and the resulting traffic congestion is further damaging our environment, public health, and quality of life.