TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

While in another time, many years ago, this would have been a good idea, but we have squandered our time neglecting the climate problem and now the TCI is too little too late. We need a massive plan to transform our society similar to the war effort in the Forties and TCI is a feel good bandaid on a massive wound and will just distract us from focusing on a plan that will comprehensively address this crisis. This plan among other things, must address the neglected parts of our society, for to work, it must have the support of all citizens. It must also address the main cause of the climate problem: the capitalist system where the wealthy prosper and the poor are left to their own devices to survive; making things for commerce's sake, not because we need these things; increasingly extracting material from the earth as if it is inexhaustible leaving behind a polluted earth and air now so degraded that we are on the brink of extinction - all in the pursuit of market projections that our businesses must not fail to meet not what is the best we can do for mankind. This is time for the boldest thinking we can muster if we are to survive - not this weak answer to the most dire issue mankind has created or faced.

We HAVE GOT TO CHANGE OUR WAYS. There are those who feel we're already too late and the outcome of our complacency will be disastrous.

This is an unfair tax on the working and middle class which will punish those who don't have the means. It is a quite regressive way to control us and will do little to control climate change. If you truly care you will start pressuring India and China...

1) The states should pursue an ambitious emissions reduction policy and go beyond the modeling scenarios presented.
2) The states should center their framework and investment strategies on equity of process and outcome to ensure emissions reductions are specifically targeted in the communities most impacted by the effects of pollution and climate change. The framework should do more to center the needs and voices of frontline communities, including making sure that the impacts of the framework do not further harm low-income people and communities of color with a regressive financial instrument. The framework should also include requirements around ethical sourcing and supply chain transparency for producing the solar panels powering clean energy and to build batteries for electric vehicles, especially to prevent the continuation of human and environmental abuses in mines (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/05/most-renewable-energy-companies-claims-mines).

The TCI is just another tax, added to the ridiculous tax burden that we are already under. It won't help carbon emissions or clean air, it will just make life more difficult for working people. It is time for a good 10% cut across the the state goverment.

I am opposed to the TCI proposal. This is a tax and the legislature must vote on this, remember 2014?
I am tired of the "climate change" frauds, climate has never been, is not now and never will be static, it is dynamic.
I remember from the seventies warnings of a new ice age by the nineties.
I also do not want any more of my money to go to the MBTA for anything, including their unfunded pensions. Not my fault, not my problem.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Mass plates in NH on the weekends?
How can you justify following the same failed policies of California?
Sincerely,
Joe Rochna

Forcing taxpayers to spend more & more of their hard-earned $ to facilitate "initiatives" that may have little to no effect on climate change is the most regressive type of tax possible. If the largest polluters, China & India, continue on their current paths this will be like peeing into the wind, and will have dire effects on the poorest of our citizens. It is also taxation without representation if the CITIZENS aren't allowed to vote on this for themselves. STOP THE MADNESS NOW!

I am excited to see a high-impact, regional approach to tackling carbon emissions moving forward; this is critical work, especially in the face of the short-sighted, dangerous approach currently being taken by the federal government.

I strongly support the Transportation Climate Initiative. The United States has the resources and technology to implement clean energy solutions on a massive scale. Therefore, the US should be setting an example of sustainable development--we should be a beacon of hope, proving that it is possible to make the change from fossil fuels to clean energy. Americans should not be suffering from lung disease and other health issues as a result of our dependence on fossil fuels when we very well have the resources and technology to improve our system.

Sadly, what we've seen from the current administration is a step in the wrong direction. Over 60 rollbacks on environmental regulations have been completed with more under attack each day. In 2017, the Trump administration began the formal process to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, in which nearly every country on Earth was coming together to implement climate solutions across the globe.

Living in Boston, I am no stranger to the inefficient commuter lifestyle that so many are forced to participate in. In Massachusetts, 40% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the transportation sector. I hope to one day see Boston become a city where the public transportation is so easy, clean, and accessible that fossil-fuel burning cars are not as necessary. The Transportation Climate Initiative is a step in the right direction to reach this goal.