TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I would like to thank Gov. Lamont for requesting that CT formally sign on to TCI.
Reducing transportation sector emissions is important to me because of the dire climate situation which is largely driven by transportation C02. The climate crisis is UPON us, here and now, and we are losing time to do everything we can to mitigate the losses to come. It is also important to address social justice, since poor communities bear the brunt of climate problems. We have already lost decades in making the broad and unprecedented changes that are needed. Please do everything you can.
Please choose ***the most aggressive**** greenhouse gas emissions cap.
Any TCI policy should address equity and investment in overburdened and under-served communities as a first and foremost priority.

Where the federal government fails, states are stepping up to lead. I urge you to do all in your power to support low-carbon transportation.

Please support this iniciative. It is a step in the right direction, and will benefit us all.

One quick partial solution to our carbon output would be to provide funding for electric buses for all school districts throughout the state. Probably (I'm guessing, have no statistics) more fuel is consumed in bussing kids to and from school and other activities than any other transportation system in Maine and this would go a long way toward mitigating our output.
Providing public transportation throughout the state is a really thorny problem since we are such a sprawled population but I am convinced that here on the coast at least affordable housing would help resolve some of that. Every morning and every afternoon in Camden, Rockland, and other midcoast communities where the jobs are, hordes of mostly large SUVs, often with heavy snowplows attached, and usually with just one occupant, flood in from Washington, Appleton, Hope (the hinterland), as workers drive from where they live to where they work. Housing costs in the midcoast have soared so high, often with out-of-state demand for a piece of the coast of Maine, that employees at all levels can no longer afford to live in the town where they work.
Beyond that, of course, is the problem of public transportation which almost seems insoluble in a state as large and with a population as sprawling as Maine's. I will be looking for creative solutions to this--tax relief for shared vehicles? more and safer bicycle lanes? more power outlets for electric vehicles? Everything I come up with seems like a minor stopgap measure but there HAS to be a way to get people where they want to go (and, equally important, when they want to go there) that doesn't involve massive single-person transit by the most energy-wasteful form of population that humankind has invented, the personal automotive vehicle. Perhaps a good way to start would be by funding a huge research effort at the University of Maine.

We must do all that we can to cut emissions and greenhouse gases. Every day we inflict more damage to our only home. Unfortunately, time is running out and we aren't doing enough to halt the destruction of our planet. I support the TCI.

Right now it's very important we focus on reducing transportation sector emssions in order to not contribute to the ongoing climate crisis we have already fueled. I want to thank Gov. Lamont for being involved in the regional design process and request that CT formally sign on to the initiative. I urge TCI leadership to choose the most aggressive greenhouse gas emissions cap but request that a TCI policy has equity and investment in overburdened and under-served communities as a first and foremost priority.

We need to electrify our transportation infrastructure as soon as possible to mitigate the effects of the Climate Crisis. It's time for battery powered busses, trucks, cars, etc. Please choose aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets that the most recent climate science tells us we need. Prioritize clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices. Reducing pollution from transportation is a key component to reducing Pennsylvania's emissions! Thanks