TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I would like to see an efficient rail system linking Burlington and Montpelier, Burlington and Montreal, and Burlington and Middlebury. Also, affordable efficient rail between Burlington and Boston and NYC.

The traffic On Shelburne Rd. and Dorset Street is terrible. I would like to see more frequent and FREE bus service in Chittenden County that makes public transportation convenient and a good option for everyone.

Lastly, making bike lanes safe and apart from traffic is a must.

TCI costs are a non-solution for rural Vermonters and targets us with unnecessary and unequitable costs. My family has no options but to use our vehicles for obtaining work, school, and basic life necessities. Mass transportation is neither effective nor efficient in a rural environment. I cannot walk or bike with my young children along the rural Town roads as a main source of transportation due to having no distinguishable shoulder for safe traversing. When a vehicle approaches as we walk on these roads, we must leave the road and enter the long grass and weeds which are ripe with ticks and yellow or poison parsnip and the occasional used syringe. For as many as 6-7 months of the year the plowed snow debris leaves no options for getting off the road and out of the way of traffic. Vermont’s State roads are no better than the rural roads regarding accessible shoulder space in our area.
I would also like to point out that the State of Vermont is the largest contributor to transportation generated pollution. The State of Vermont is the largest employer in the State, all those State employees have to commute to and from work, increasing transportation generated pollution. Additionally, the State of Vermont by far, has the largest inventory of vehicles of any entity in the State, which are used by the State Employees to perform State functions such as policing, forestry, fish and game enforcement, highway maintenance, parks management, DMV enforcement, and many other entities and purposes. I am not debating the necessity of these transportation assets, my transportation requirements are as necessary to me and my family as they State’s requirements are necessary to the State. My family should not be penalized financially to meet our needs to subsidize the only growing transportation generated pollution caused by the State of Vermont.
If you want to reduce transportation generated pollution in the State of Vermont, you must first look to the largest generator of such pollution, the State’s Government and Agencies.

I am totally opposed to TCI gasoline tax bill the state is considering. This will cause hardship upon your constituency. Please vote no on this.

I support TCI because transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in my state and we have to act on climate.

This is yet another money grab for MA politicians. Stop the madness. This has little to do with the environment and much to do with the ineffective leadership at the State House.
This tax will affect more than an increase in my fuel cost. Everything that gets delivered by truck will see an increase in price that will be passed to the consumer. I doubt that it will end with just gas prices being raised. I foresee the cost of fuel that I heat my home with to being subjected to this tax.

p Toward Clean Transportation in the Eastern U.S.
December 17, 2019 Bruce Ho

Map of TCI States and D.C.

The proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative policy is a bold step to upgrade the region's transportation system.

A dozen eastern states and the city of Washington, D.C. are taking a huge step forward in making their communities more prosperous and livable as they outline a plan to transform the region’s beleaguered transportation system, in part by investing potentially $5 billion to $7 billion per year over the next decade to do so. For comparison, that’s seven to nine times more invested each year than what these states received in total to support emissions reductions and clean transportation under the 2016 Volkswagen emissions cheating settlement.

The draft Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) proposal released today is a bold step by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. to upgrade the region’s transportation system to be more efficient, more affordable, and less polluting.

A year ago, these jurisdictions set out to develop a plan to fix the region’s transportation problems, which include mind-numbing traffic, outdated infrastructure, delayed and insufficient buses and trains, and dirty vehicles that belch clouds of exhaust while collectively emitting more climate-harming pollution than any other sector—even power plants.

Through an innovative framework that cuts pollution and invests in 21st century transportation solutions, the TCI proposal would ensure today’s broken system isn’t also the region’s future.

Release of the proposal kicks off an opportunity for the public to weigh in and is a milestone on the way to a final regional policy due out this spring. While there are still many details to work out—and ways in which the states should further improve their final policy—one thing is clear: by committing to tackle these problems, the region’s governors and the mayor of D.C. are responding to overwhelming public sentiment. A recent poll found near universal support among eastern state voters for investments in transportation improvements and strong support for the states’ proposed regional approach to do so.
The Proposed Regional Transportation Policy

The TCI policy would set the region’s first limits on transportation-sector carbon pollution; require major industrial suppliers of polluting transportation fuels, including gasoline and diesel, to pay for the pollution their products cause; and invest those payments in clean and modern transportation solutions that benefit everyone.

The proposal relies on a proven policy model that has helped eastern states cut power plant carbon pollution in half over the last decade.

The proposal builds on a successful policy approach that for more than a decade has helped eastern states cut power plant pollution and invest in a clean power sector, with more renewable wind and solar energy and energy efficiency measures that lower electricity bills. The clean power policy has achieved these outcomes while simultaneously growing the economy, improving air quality, and creating thousands of new jobs.

As my colleague Jessica Russo illustrates below, and as modeling results released today and previously by the states and D.C. shows, we can expect similar outcomes by applying and adapting this successful policy approach to our transportation challenges.

Residents of urban, suburban, and rural communities will benefit from expanded, accessible and affordable public transportation; investments in electric buses, trucks, and other clean vehicles; resilient transportation infrastructure; improved pedestrian walkways; safe infrastructure for biking; and transit-accessible affordable housing.

Potential benefits: transit, infrastructure, jobs, economy, and health
Investments in clean and modern transportation solutions will benefit everyone.

Thus far, the states have evaluated three potential levels of policy ambition, with the strongest scenario requiring a reduction in transportation carbon pollution of 25 percent by 2032. Among its many benefits, the states project such a policy would, by the year 2032, prevent over 1,000 premature deaths and 1,300 asthma attacks per year, while providing $10 billion annually in public health benefits, including reduced medical bills, by cleaning up our air.

The states and D.C. have committed to ensure these benefits are shared equitably, including by ensuring communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change and most underserved by the current transportation system are better off under the policy.
Strengthening the Final Proposal

While the draft proposal is a major step forward, there are still several questions that must be answered. These include key details around policy design, such as the need to set a minimum price on pollution and establish market protections like an “Emissions Containment Reserve” that would automatically strengthen the regional policy—and more quickly reduce transportation pollution—if the cost of doing so ends up being cheaper than expected. We’ve seen how similar elements in the region’s clean power policy design create a more robust framework, and the states should apply these lessons in the transportation sector as well.

Also important is the level of pollution reductions that the states commit to in their final policy. With transportation accounting for the largest share of climate pollution, the region’s clean transportation policy must be sufficiently bold and ambitious to ensure the scale of pollution reductions we need to address the climate crisis.

While today’s proposal includes a range of potential pollution reduction levels, it does not yet commit the states and D.C. to a final standard for transportation. Based on other analyses, we believe there are still greater opportunities to reduce transportation pollution and invest in clean solutions than the states’ draft analysis currently assumes.

In the coming weeks, NRDC and others will provide comments on the draft TCI policy proposal, including ways to strengthen it to build the clean and modern transportation system eastern state communities want and deserve.

Today, however, we recognize the states and D.C. for taking a big step forward with the release of their long-awaited proposal. The policy framework they have laid out is a sign of tangible progress that the region’s governors and the mayor of D.C. are working to ensure a brighter transportation future for their residents in the coming New Year and the years ahead.

As a parent, a voter, and a person who follows energy and environmental issues, I hope efforts will be made to lessen emissions from transportation - one of the the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. I hope NYS will join in a plan to reduce transportation emissions. Scientists tell us we have a decade - or less - to act to avoid climate catastrophe. Ice will be gone from the arctic this decade. We face a sixth great mass extinction. And atmospheric CO2 is increasing at twice the rate of 30 years ago. We are moving rapidly in the wrong direction to preserve a planet for our children. I hope a strong program might be developed that promotes and invests in public transportation, and encourages biking, jogging, and walking, with lanes and routes for safe pursuit of those activities.

We see the great need in Maine for safe, clean, and affordable transportation. To keep Maine growing and bringing in new business we MUST have transportation for workers and to get products to markets. To increase tourism we MUST provide transpiration to ALL parts of Maine. New families, elderly, and students will require transportation for access to educational facilities, medical care, and jobs. NOW is the time for Maine to invest in clean, energy efficient transportation. Every $ spent will help Maine to grow and prosper. Every $ spent on CLEAN energy efficient transportation is a win-win for all of this New England area in clean air, lower costs, and increased access for inter-state travel. If we ALL work together, we will ALL benefit.