TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Washington County Maine is one of the largest counties in Maine, 3,258 square miles. Its also one of the poorest with 20% of people in rural areas living below the poverty level. We have a disproportionate number of seniors who travel long distances for medical care, some also have to pay a driver because there is no public transportation to large medical facilities 100 or 200 miles away round trip. The largest VA center is an all day trip there & back. Our basic necessities are more expensive because of transportation costs Our school budgets are higher because of transportation expenses in a geographically isolated area boarded by Canada and the Atlantic Ocean. There has been a huge loss of jobs here and no work for young people who have to move away for work. We are the "other state of Maine" separate from urban centers where the economy of scale can afford more services like public transportation. If our governor lived in the 2nd congressional district or even cared about it she would not propose such draconian measures to save the planet. People here will die for lack of access to necessary transportation at a cost they cannot afford

Our state needs an ambitious plan to reduce climate-changing transportation pollution,. Working together with neighboring states makes sense.
Maine should use TCI as an opportunity to invest in local transportation solutions that help Maine people get to where they need to go in an affordable way that’s good for our environment.
Mainers deserve creative new choices and new investments to meet our transportation needs; the one thing we know is that pouring pollution into the atmosphere and sending our hard-earned money out of state for the oil that causes that pollution are NOT the way forward.

Maine can see significant economic, health, and environmental benefits by transitioning to cleaner and more efficient transportation options through adoption of TCI.

This would bring harm to the Maine residents. Another reason for people to leave Maine.

Our outdated transportation system is Maine’s largest source of climate pollution—and it doesn’t even meet the needs of Maine people.
I support every effort to reduce transportation pollution and if it is based on a proven model such as RGGI all the better.
Maine people deserve clean, modern, affordable transportation options that deliver economic, health, and climate benefits to local communities. Cities should have electric public transportation fleets. There should be clean-fuel public transportation between our cities, with logical stops along the way, and perhaps e-bikes for rent at the hubs so visitors can get to their final destination still using clean fuel.
It makes sense for Maine to work with neighboring states through TCI’s bipartisan, proven policy model.
Applying a “cap and invest” approach to transportation would help Maine redirect some of the $5 billion a year we send out of state to fossil fuel companies into our local communities and sustainable transportation solutions. Wow, think what other public problems we could solve if we had $5 billion a year to work with!

Stop d**king around with carbon pricing & cap-and-investment, and push for a comprehensive Green New Deal (we are too deep in the 6th mass extinction to settle for band-aids).

Too many of our public buses and trains run on dirty energy and contribute to air pollution and climate change. Many trains, buses, and stations haven’t been retrofitted in decades. For many people in rural parts of our states, there are zero viable public transportation options, which forces them to drive.

By making polluters pay and creating a dedicated source of funding through TCI, we’ll finally be able to move our state to a 21st-century regional transportation system that is cleaner, more reliable, more accessible, and more affordable. We’ll see less traffic, thousands of new jobs, and less dangerous air pollution. All communities — whether urban, suburban, or rural — will benefit.

The only ones this hurts are the working class taxpayers, the ones that pay their own bills. KEEP IT UP BEACON HILL YOU WILL TURN THIS STATE RED YET.