TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

The Sierra Club is sharing the attached 102 comments from our members and supporters in Delaware supporting finalizing the Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Thank you for helping to design a regional policy to limit climate pollution from motor fuels and invest in a modern, clean, transportation future. The evidence is clear: the more we limit pollution from motor fuels, the more jobs are created, the more the economy grows, and the more lives we save. Please sign on to the agreement to implement a strong, equitable regional climate protection policy through TCI. Invest in the communities that have suffered the most from burning gasoline and have the least access to clean transportation options. Stop sending our hard-earned dollars out of the state to oil companies, and choose to create jobs, grow the economy, and save lives for families and businesses. Thank you.

The Sierra Club is sharing the attached 320 comments from our members and supporters in Connecticut supporting finalizing the Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Thank you for helping to design a regional policy to limit climate pollution from motor fuels and invest in a modern, clean, transportation future. The evidence is clear: the more we limit pollution from motor fuels, the more jobs are created, the more the economy grows, and the more lives we save. Please sign on to the agreement to implement a strong, equitable regional climate protection policy through TCI. Invest in the communities that have suffered the most from burning gasoline and have the least access to clean transportation options. Stop sending our hard-earned dollars out of the state to oil companies, and choose to create jobs, grow the economy, and save lives for families and businesses. Thank you.

This bill if passed would hurt Mainers. Maine is such a rural state and many people travel distances to/from work. Increasing gas prices which many people already struggle to pay would only hurt Maine residents more. Our climate is important but this is not the fix. This is only going to hurt more families and this will do more harm than good! Please don’t pass this for the good of Maine people.

Thank you for this initiative to cap and reduce emissions from transportation. This is important work.
Please strive to make the options and tradeoffs as clear as possible to citizens and experts alike. In addition to the dense reports you write, please help put the choices in perspective in as clear and simple a way as possible. For example, here's a simple pamphlet in comic style that conveys costs comparisons. Check it out: https://twitter.com/sarahmirk/status/1231993627900956677

My husband walks a mile rain or shine to ride the bus to work in Hartford. The public transportation system is critical to him. However, since moving to CT, he has a cough which he attributes to low air quality. When I travel to Washington DC I use bus transportation. It is efficient and cost effective. We do have a hybrid gas/electric vehicle which we charge at the charging station in front of our
town hall. My family requests Gov Lamont formally join the TCI Initiative and pursue aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reductions so
air quality in our cities (for our school children and others like my husband) will improve and the transportation sector will support
individuals like us seeking to transition to electric vehicles and public transport. We appreciate Gov Lamont's leadership.

Sincerely,
Jon and Susan Olson, 109 Hopmeadow St, Weatogue, CT

I am writing to voice my strong opposition to the TCI. Maine is predominantly a rural state, without public transportation except in the larger cities. Many working Mainers have no option other than to drive their personal or business vehicles to their employment. How can raising the fuel tax by, initially, 17 cents per gallon, benefit these workers?

Mainers already suffer the third highest tax burden, behind New York and Hawaii, while ranking 43rd in per capita income (as of 2018). The last thing hard working Mainers need is an additional tax! I suspect you are well aware of these statistics.

Not only will this tax affect each individual on every gallon of fuel they purchase, it also increases the tax burden from their local municipalities, as well as the state government. Fuel for municipal and state vehicles is paid by tax dollars. Fire equipment, police vehicles, animal control officers, building inspectors, school busses and so on and so on and so on...all paid for by the taxpayer!!! Technically, the additional tax burden on each individual is a lot more than a "mere" 17 cents per gallon. It will be added to ALL products and services that are delivered over the highways and these deliveries do not go through Maine on their way to somewhere else...Maine is the end of the line. This "17 cent a gallon" will be increased many times over for all Maine citizens.

This initiative is a bad plan for hard working Mainers and will do very little to reduce carbon emissions, by the TCI's own admission. What it will do is make it much more difficult for hard working Mainers "make ends meet". It will affect low income and the elderly in Maine much more significantly than citizens in more affluent states to the south.

This is a bad idea.

Having recently seen The Human Element, I am even more aware of the chemicals our atmosphere is infused with at our hands. Little kids are breathing through face masks made to look like elephant faces multiple times a day at home and in school to stay alive. They explain that it feels like drowning when their damaged lungs fail to deliver adequate oxygen due to the pollution from the convenience of using fossil fuels. Our definition of fossil fuel necessity has been smothered by the scientific data that shows how we are destroying our life support systems. Shame on us for complaining that we don't like an additional gas tax. Our first responsibility is to life. We have lost our way as we minimize its fragility and our necessary stewardship. All around us we see the consequences accrue and the death of species; plants, animals and loved ones. My concern is that this legislation is as vetted and as extreme in its effectiveness as is humanly possible. I believe the team assembled and the sponsors behind this initiative are taking their moral role as shapers of our children's futures seriously. I thank you. Sign. Enact. Better our futures.