TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I am a citizen concerned with climate change, our existential crisis that needs immediate action. Transportation is the biggest sector that is creating emissions in Maine. Yet transportation has been the sector that has been all but ignored in our state action plan to address climate change. Why do I say that when the plan does posit that electric cars and more electric charging stations are in the plan? Because both are solutions that only the wealthy can afford at this time. They are not practical solutions . We need to provide solutions that can be implemented right now. It is not a matter of people becoming aware. We are aware. We need to do steps right now. Public transportation needs to be electrified, expanded and improved immediately. People have shown they will use it if it is reliable, affordable and easy to use. The Downeaster is expanding, the Breeze works. But we need much more geared to commuters. I use it in Europe where it is easier to use than a car as it is frequent and there are no parking problems. Maine used to have trolleys. What about trams, light rail? buses? We do not need to reinvent the wheel. I can walk faster than my local bus which is from the dinosaur age in terms of being consumer friendly. Having an app doesn't change the fact that the bus takes so long and does not run when people want and need it. There are too many bus stops and not enough routes. The buses are old, have no digital readouts showing the routes or the stops so a newcomer can navigate them. There are no schedules posted and no bus shelters with readouts showing the bus times en route. There has been no state plan to coordinate public transportation to address climate change and no financial backing from the state. Public transportation also is part of social justice. Low income people and seniors cannot afford uber rides. It is necessary for seniors to be able to remain in their homes. It helps with congestion and with health as people walk more. It helps with isolation and can create community as people meet on the same routes. We can start by working with large employers to provide public transportation convenient to their schedules. High schoolers can ride the buses to save money and not duplicate resources as electric buses are expensive but worth it. We have many examples of how to do this. Lets get going. I will ride if it is available in South Portland as I do everywhere else I go. Please give me the opportunity to do so while helping our climate.

Carbon cap/trade and all the proposals I've seen here cannot work without actual, less polluting forms of energy for transportation. So far. the only viable substitute fuel for transportation is natural gas. No other source, except nuclear power, has the ability to transport what needs to be transported economically. There are no "renewable" resources that are less polluting. They simply export or move the pollution around.

It would be a very good idea to remove the "carbon" appellation from the discussion. It hides the true nature of the problem which many perceive to be carbon dioxide emissions. The more research that is done the more it appears that carbon dioxide has more benefits than detriments. Each round of reports from the IPCC has reduced the amount of projected temperature increases and shown more off-setting benefits from somewhat higher temperatures and levels of carbon dioxide. It is, after all, the source of all our food.


Ethanol produces more actual pollution from production on the farm to delivery of ethanol to the transportation system than simply using fossil fuels directly.
Solar panels and windmills can only produce electricity sporadically, usually when it isn't needed and not when it is. Both would require collosal investments in huge batteries, concrete, rare metals and other highly polluting mining in third world countries, not to mention the removal and recovery of all the materials after they break/wear out. Recycling will probably cost nearly as much as the original production. Electric trucks would double down on the costs involved. The most potentially viable truck system would likely be dedicated electric truck driving lanes and overhead electricity, similar to electric trains. Powered by modern nuclear reactors this approach could reduce the amount of truck pollution greatly, but is only viable in dense urban areas. It took a century to get reliable electricity to rural America. An electric trucking system might only require 50 years.

Electric cars produce more dangerous pollution from raw materials production and simply move the pollution to poor countries. The cars themselves are only modestly more efficient overall than diesel or direct ignition Atkisson cycle gasoline engines. Electric cars require very significant subsidies to offset the negatives for anything but short work commutes(~20 miles) and all the daily accommodations needed for convenient use of the vehicle. To actually be functional the electricity has to come from hydropower or nuclear power. Solar and wind simply cannot supply enough power, even if every acre in the country had a windmill and a large solar array, with batteries.

So, rather than piling on loads of costs one everyone(including the people running this program) it would be much better policy to directly invest in speeding up the development and adoption of modern, 4th and 5th generation nuclear reactors. There are many design possibilities for nuclear reactors that are modular, scalable, safer, much more efficient, and much less liable to nuclear weapons proliferation than the current machines. Most are literally failsafe- if the reactor overheats it simply shuts down due to how they are designed.

We encourage the Transportation and Climate Initiative to consider advanced diesel technologies and biofuels as a partner to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions throughout the region. While transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, commercial vehicles account for 23 percent of all transportation related emissions. Advanced diesel technology available today is already achieving emission reductions and further refinements in diesel powered medium and heavy duty trucks and biofuels will continue to drive down emissions in the short term. These benefits are achieved at minimum cost.

Today, 98% of large commercial trucks are powered by diesel technology. We are already one year past the final phase in year for the first ever greenhouse gas reduction regulation for commercial vehicles. Between 2014 and 2017, U.S. EPA estimates that technologies designed to make fuel sipping diesel trucks sip even less fuel will reduce GHG emissions by 270 million tons. These are benefits derived from diesel technology readily available today. The second phase of these greenhouse gas reduction regulations for commercial vehicles will kick-in in 2021. U.S. EPA estimates that technology to meet these rules will save 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. A variety of analyses indicate that, while a variety of emerging technologies will be available, diesel technology will still dominate the commercial truck fleet during this time.

Even greater advances are being made in biofuels. Both biodiesel and renewable diesel fuel are considered advanced biofuels by the U.S. EPA that are capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%. Renewable diesel fuel may be used as a replacement to petroleum diesel fuel and reduces the carbon intensity by 86%. In California, the largest source of greenhouse gas emission reductions from the transportation sector has been attributable to the use of biofuels. Since 2011, the use of biodiesel and renewable diesel fuel has eliminated 14 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions while the use of battery-electric vehicles has only reduced emission by 3 million tons.

Relative to zero emission vehicles, the use of advanced biofuels are very cost effective solutions to achieve significant immediate term benefits. The use of these fuels does not require the purchase of a new fleet of expensive vehicles or even the buildout of new fueling infrastructure. Large fleets in the region plan to incorporate more of these carbon cutting fuels into the their fleet soon.

We encourage the Transportation and Climate Initiative to consider the benefit to the region from a higher adoption of advanced diesel technologies including biodiesel and renewable diesel fuel.

Thank you for your consideration of this comment.

The Tax Increases are ridiculous! Maine survival depends on farmers, fishermen and tourists!

Once again Gov't trying to KILL small business . Luckily we live near the N.J. border so we buy all our gas there . Unfortunately that doesn't help small businesses where we live . When these LIBTARD IDIOTS a decade ago decided a Carbon Cap and Trade policy was the fix for their so called Climate Change I new it was a HOAX and a SCAM just so they could make money on Wall Street . Look at that fat slob Al Gore flying around the world on his private jet telling us how we should conserve on energy . Carbon Dioxide is what plants need to produce oxygen (DAAH) . The weather is cyclical ,all you have to do is go back over the last hundred years and look . LIBTARDS only look back thirty years . I guess it's to hard for them to look further .

Our company has been in business for over 73 years and is a supplier of both propane and petroleum products. We support efforts for a cleaner environment but it must be with a balanced approach to be both effective and affordable. Electricity is not the answer to it all. As you know, there have been great strides in both gasoline and diesel technologies. Propane is a clean fuel, is readily available in the United States, and can effectively and economically provide energy today in a number of key areas.

make corporations who are sliming the environment and sickening people pay to fix up this mess! many of these industries are subsidized by taxpayer dollars. for years they've promoted a dialogue that puts the onus on the public to control their polluting habits. they have gaslighted the public. now is the time for corporate responsibility to clean up the mess they and politician's created!!!!

I work out on the road to the extent of 90,000mi per year! Why do I have to do this it isn't by choice! I live in the most depressed county in the United States! Where u cant make a decent living! We own a farm also! Difficult to relocate! No I can't write my fuel off! It's all out of pocket! Not to mention auto expense! This tax u are wanting to impose on we the people of Maine is wrong! I am retired and still have to work 60hours per week!