TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Raising gas prices will adversely affect many Rhode Islanders. Most of live paycheck to paycheck and rely on automobiles to get to work. RI has had years to improve public transportation and not done much. I don't see how this will help. This quote sums it up “From a practical standpoint, the RGGI program’s contribution to directly reducing the global accumulation of GHG emissions in the atmosphere is arguably negligible,” wrote researchers of the nonpartisan U.S. Congressional Research Service in a recently updated report about RGGI."

Adding any additional tax burden to Rhode Islanders is a terrible idea. We already have some of the highest taxes in the nation and yet the state is a fiscally run nightmare. This is nothing but a taxpayer funded money grab in the name of climate change only.

If Maine joins the TCI everyone will hurt. We have such a low CO2 impact as it is. In my industry, all of my materials are shipped via lumber truck. If the fuel costs for that go up, the prices on lumber go up, which Means my prices have to go up, which means I am now pricing myself out of work b/c people can’t afford it. It effects everyone. The electric vehicle has not come far enough, nor is it affordable for even the average income family. For my line of work, and all tradesmen in my line of work, it requires having a truck, so how is this fair to punish me and all of the people in my industry who are just trying to make a living who need a gas/diesel vehicle for work. They don’t even make an electric vehicle that even slightly compares to the specs I need for work in a vehicle. I would strongly discourage joining TCI for Maine. Our governor does not think things through, and she does not know how to effectively create and stay on budget to keep Maine flourishing. This is an unnecessary tax that will only hurt Maine immediately and for the long run.

Can you provide gas discount cards to all the people who live beyond the range of reliable daily public transportation to and from their workplace(s)? It can't just be based on "low income" -- because people in Maine's middle income bracket struggle with gas and heating costs too. Unless you find a way to exempt Mainers who don't live in Portland, this just isn't workable.

I strongly support the TCI to give folks an incentive to buy electric and high efficiency cars and public transport. We have to time to waste.

I could not be further in support of action like this for the state of Massachusetts. In fact, it should have been done years ago.

I have lived in Massachusetts since 2003, moving here for college. I have since moved further out of town, to Medford, Malden, and now North Andover. As I've moved outward I realized how woefully behind and miserable out transportation system is. As a medical resident at Tufts medical center I would leave 16 hour days in the hospital to get on the orange line back to Malden to end up finding needed that my commute would take an extra hour to be bussed from Wellington or sometimes from downtown. I rode the commuter rail from Lawrence while living in North Andover (not actually a bad experience, other than the uncomfortable chairs) to North Station and then would rather walk 25 minutes in the cold than be crushed onto overcrowded trains at North Station, where people would be waiting three to four people deep on the platforms for trains coming in to town. I've also driven in to Boston for my commute many times, and have witnessed people losing their minds with rage in the unbelievable traffic.

My sister is a nurse at MGH and would rather commute by driving from Nashua than take trains (even though its a few minute walk from North Station!) because the commuter rail schedule is so poor that doing so would add 90 minutes to her already 14-15 hour day away from home.

The prices of real estate in Boston and gentrification of downtown neighborhoods are forcing out lower-income residents where they are forced to endure the horrible MBTA for commutes, taking more of their time away from their families, while tax breaks are offered to corporations to come to Boston and real estate is developed downtown to provide upper-class housing for their employees. There is also ample data that emissions and pollution disproportionately affect lower-income neighborhoods and minority individuals. These are nauseating inequalities that needs to be addressed.

The Big Dig was poorly designed and is now woefully inadequate to support traffic around Boston. As the city has grown during the time I have lived here, the overpriced and miserable commuter rail and the third-world level MBTA subway system have become overloaded while still being bad enough to force most people to drive commute.

Please raise a gas tax and use the funds for improvements in public transportation. Please ALSO tax the real-estate developers (how many hundred million dollar apartment buildings have gone up in the last ten years?) and large corporations in the city driving gentrification to support improvements in public transportation infrastructure. Please ALSO provide tax benefits or other financial incentives for purchasing electric cars, as this may disappear at the federal level.

I think the TCI is a great idea. I hope the most ambitious emission reduction targets are used.