TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Maine is a state with a small population except in the summer when Maine is a tourist destination. Because Maine is a physically large state the impact of traveling distances to various tourist destinations, or simply going to work, creates a large amount of carbon emissions from cars and trucks bringing goods into the state. Maine has very little public transportation that would help move an influx of tourists and virtually no other system of transporting goods other than trucks. However, Maine is 90 percent forested and thus affords a great way to harvest carbon emissions through its forests and farmland. This way to capture carbon that is emitted here in Maine, but also in the Atlantic corridor and from the Midwest because of prevailing winds, puts Maine in an unique position to become a great asset in carbon harvesting. This concept needs to be perused as to how to effectively implement carbon harvesting. In addition, Maine has an extremely high incidence of asthma due to air pollution from the Atlantic corridor and the Midwest. The health of the people of the State of Maine should not be impacted by pollution and climate change due to carbon emissions from the above mentioned areas. It is imperative that TCI states develop a working policy that addresses the issues that the people of Maine are facing such as health issues, rising sea levels and the warming of the Gulf of Maine due to the carbon produced by cars and trucks in the Atlantic corridor and the Midwest.

Please help us invest in clean, efficient public transportation - critical for our global competitiveness. Anyone who has traveled in Europe is embarrassed with the lack of good public transportation in the U.S.

AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED TO TRY THERE CARS AND TRUCKS. PRICES ARE WHY OUT OF CONTROLL NOW AND WE CANT SURVIVE THIS WAY.

The climate crisis is the most important issue of our generation, so I have been working most of my life on this, to protect the future for my children and grandchildren. We need to put a price on carbon through a carbon fee and dividend approach (call it a "green energy dividend"). This will provide incentives for clean energy, electric cars, and mass transit in a way that provides dividends to low income people that need it the most. I appreciate your bipartisan dedication to this issue.

Please see attached Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers' comments on TCI's Draft Regional Policy Framework.

Where have I seen this before? An issue so unpopular that it would never pass as legislation so a work around is the only way. Wait! I remember! Same sex marriage! This bad idea was already addressed by Geoff Diehl and defeated as his signature legislation. Can anybody tell me what has brought it to the fore again just when the national economy is booming? DJT has taught us all what a tax reduction can do to a stumbling economy. Why would we hobble ourselves with a confiscatory gas tax? That just gives the bureaucrats more money to spend.

I strongly oppose this effort by Gov. Baker to bypass the state legislature to support TCI and skip the democratic process to create a multiple state program. We already have enough trouble getting our elected officials to provide funding for roads.

According to our State Constitution all state taxes must originate in the House. Governor Baker does not have authority to unilaterally raise taxes. Commonwealth Magazine reported that “The expectation of policy makers is that the cost of the allowances will be passed along to drivers at the gas pump, incentivizing them to use less, and the states will divvy up allowance money to support public transit and deal with climate change.”

The fund would allow powerful politicians to control and spend money completely separate from the legislature on non-road projects. Voters have repeatedly rejected gas tax hikes and carbon taxes. In California, where a similar program was launched, gas prices went up 12 to 14 cents a gallon and are over 4 dollars today. TCI is attempting to bypass the democratic process without forcing the legislature to take a vote.

While living with an asthmatic, and sometimes suffering from poor air quality myself, I think that everything we can do to improve the air quality in our region is important. Reducing air pollution from transportation vehicles is an important step, and focusing on public buses such as school buses which still typically use diesel engines which bellow clouds of pollution when running cold or not adjusted properly. Exposing children to these fumes is wrong even if it's saving us taxpayers some dollars in costs, it comes back to us in poor health later in life. We also have increasing congestion in our valley from poor planning focusing mostly on development, and freight trucking. The transportation sector could consider how better about health effects of having too many people in an area.

I'd like to see a future with less air pollution, more public transportation, zero or low emission vehicles and walkable / bicycleable communities.